


We'll Be There For You

by Quillery



Category: Original Work
Genre: F/F, Minor Injuries, Original Character(s)
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-11-21
Updated: 2017-12-25
Packaged: 2018-09-01 07:46:52
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 11
Words: 31,439
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8615602
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Quillery/pseuds/Quillery
Summary: In the warmth of her cozy home, Josephine(Joey) was about to turn in for the night when she heard crying outside in the blizzard. Picking the freezing boy from the snow, she hopes to provide some much-needed comfort for Chris. However, she uncovers a disturbing reality that she knows she cannot handle alone.Knowing only one other friend that can help her, Josephine turns to Cordelia for help, determined to set things straight for Chris. But what she does not know is that in her efforts to help provide a better life for Chris, her friendship with Cordelia would grow into something more.





	1. Night Distractions

**Author's Note:**

> My first time writing sooo... enjoy!

It was approaching that time of the year again, the dreadful time that Josephine avoided like fire. While most people relished opening presents with their family on Christmas, she did not have a family of her own to do that with, a fact that had let her be quite depressed over the past few years.

Josephine took a deep sigh and wrapped her hands around the mug of hot cocoa in front of her. She sat by the kitchen window and admired the strength of the snowstorm that hit a couple of hours ago.

Josephine always found that she was unable to find someone special to love. She had already tried dating with some locals in Bay Shore but never found anyone. Disappointed and depressed, she decided to stop trying to find someone to love, well at least for the time being.

Taking another sip from her mug of hot cocoa, she decided that now was the time to relax after work and should stop thinking about depressing thoughts. After a few more minutes of using her phone, she finished her coca and went to get some shut-eye for tomorrow as it was her first day off in a long time, and she also couldn’t wait to play with her friends in the freshly laid snow.

She slowly walked to her bedroom upstairs and opened the door to the warm and inviting bed. Crawling under the sheets while letting a yawn escape, she closed her eyes while listening to the dull roar of the snowstorm raging outside.  
She grabbed another pillow and held it to her chest and snuggled it, pretending it was someone else. Her thoughts turn to a warm body lying beside her, smiling contentedly as it caressed her stomach, thinking it was her special someone. To her disappointment, it was unable to replicate the feeling she wanted as usual and sighed to herself out of frustration. A pillow is a bad substitute for an actual person to share a bed with, but it was all that was available at the moment. Her thoughts drifted back to spending time alone on Christmas, feeling the dull sting of coming home to an empty house. She continued to toss and turn, trying to shake away the thought. Trying as much as she could, she was unable to get rid the feeling of being alone and just rolled over, closed her eyes and let yet another sigh escape.

Moments before falling asleep, she heard a faint noise but could not place her hand on what it was. The wind suddenly picked up which caused her house to creek in response. Josephine instinctively clenched the sheets and pulled them closer for more comfort. After about 5 minutes, the wind died down and noticed that she was holding the sheets like when she was younger and was scared of storms. She chuckled and relaxed the sheets from her grasp. This time, she heard a faint sound of someone crying out in the snowstorm and it sparked a faint sense of familiarity. However, she just could not place her hand on whose voice it was. With a few more seconds of thinking, she decided to check out who it was.

With a groan, Josephine tossed the covers aside and left the warmth of her bed, she trudged towards the window and pushed the window open. Poking her head out, she managed to make out a shadowy figure of a little kid walking towards the outskirts of the little town.

“Hey!!” she yelled as loud as she could muster but her voice was drowned by the sound of the winds. She noticed that the silhouette did not even respond to the voice and continued walking further and further away. She wanted to close the window and walk back to her bed to sleep but her mind was shouting at her to go and help the kid outside. She knew what she had to do, grabbing a blue scarf from her side table and slinging it around her neck, she ran out of the house to search for the kid.

Instantly after opening the door, the harsh cold wind bit her eyes and made it very difficult to see. Not walking for long, Josephine managed to find the little kid and instantly recognised it as Chris with his skateboard. “Chris! What are you doing outside in a storm like this?” The shivering boy looked up at her in confusion and Josephine instantly saw the big red bump on his head. Her eyes widened and asked “Chris! What happ-“ before she could finish, Chris jumped and grabbed her like he was holding for his dear life.

Josephine was taken aback as she expected him to greet her in his usual cheerful voice, but was instead greeted with a freezing and crying boy and knew something was very wrong. Josephine took off her scarf around her neck and around Chris’s. “Come on, let’s go back to my place and you can tell me what’s wrong,” Josephine said over the howling wind.

Reaching her house, Josephine brushed off the snow on Chris and invited him to seat on the sofa. “Would you want some hot cocoa?”  
“Yea…yeah that would be nice” Chris replied. Josephine walked into the kitchen to heat up the cocoa and occasionally glanced back at Chris who was still shivering. _Maybe I should go get him a blanket…_ She thought. She proceeded to the drawer for an extra blanket and walked to Chris and tucked it around him “That gonna be enough or do you need more?” Josephine asked with a smile. Chris only replied seconds later “This is enough, thanks”

After a few minutes, Josephine poured the hot cocoa into two waiting mugs. She also poured a few more spoonfuls of chocolate mix with some marshmallows on top for good measures. She carefully carried the mugs to the living room and placed it on the table. "Careful Chris, it's still pretty hot," Josephine said as she passed a mug over to Chris. "Soo...umm...you want to talk about what you were doing outside in a storm like this?” 

“Do...do you promise to not tell anyone?” Josephine only nodded in response. “I..I..I really messed up big time,” Chris replied hesitantly. “I cannot go home anymore.”

“Why not? Of course you can, your parents are probably worried about where-“

“No they’re not!” Chris shouted. Josephine tensed up at the sudden outburst but said noting. Chris continued “My… _parents_ ,” Chris spat the words out with hate that did not fade as he continued “They always joke about me being smaller in size compared to everyone else. If I ask them for anything. my father will…will hit me!”

“Chris, I…” Any words of comfort died in Josephine’s tongue. She was in foreign territory as she hardly encountered these situations.

“All I ever wanted was a happy family! I mean…is that too much to ask for?” Chris choked up as tears rushed to her eyes. ”Every time I see all my other friends go home to see their families, they are always very happy to see them.” Chris wiped his eyes, voice cracking under the weight of the words. “Heck, I can’t even remember the last time they said they love me! Today was the last straw, I couldn’t stand it anymore! I didn’t want this to happen, you have to believe me!”

“What did you do? I can’t be that bad for you to run away from home…right??”

“I…I…” Chris stared straight ahead, gripping her mug tighter and tighter. “I threw out all my father’s wine.”

“You didn’t actually-“

“I did! I was about to pour all of it into the drain when he walked down and saw me. He became even more furious due to the fight earlier with my mother. I tried explaining that I was trying to help him but he did not listen and started throwing the empty bottles at me…I managed to dodge most of them but one hit my in the head, right here…” Chris said while pointing to the bump on his head. “After that, I ran as far as I could with my skateboard and then you appeared.”

“ _What?!_ ” Josephine bolted upright in shock and disbelief. “Chris, we have to tell someone about this!”

“No! You promised me that you would not tell anyone.”  
Josephine sat in silence “But I can’t just sit here and do nothing after knowing what you are going through.”

“Just promise me you would not do anything to hurt them”

“Chris I…” Josephine found herself once again at a loss for words.

“Promise me”

Josephine looked deeply into Chris’s eyes and sighed “Fine, I promise you I won’t touch them.”

“Thanks.”

"But that changes the instant they hurt you, understand?"

"Okay. Anyway, if it's okay with you, can I..."

"Can you what?" Josephine asked as she took a sip from her hot cococa.

"Is it okay if I stayed for the night? I don't think I have anywhere else to go and the storm outside is not dying down..."

“Of course you can. I uhh…don’t really have a spare bed…but the couch is all yours if you want it. I’ll go get some pillows for you.”

“Wait! I mean umm…do you mind if we, you know...sleep together, I don’t want to be alone and it is pretty cold.”

Josephine blinked and gave a gentle smile moments later. “Su-sure Chris. Let's finish the coca first.”

They both just sat on the couch and enjoyed their hot cocoa while talking about other happier things to lift the mood. After a few minutes, both of them finished their drinks and Josephine went to wash the mugs.

"Come on, let’s get going, I’m pretty sure you're exhausted after what happened today.”

“Maybe a bit.” Chris said while trying to hold back a yawn. “Okay, maybe a lot more than I expected”

They both walked to the room and Josephine instantly flopped on the bed while Chris stood by the side.

“Come on, I don’t bite,” Josephine said as she patted the bed. Chris climbed on the bed hesitantly and curled into a ball, pressing his back against her side.

“Hey Josephine?

“Yeah?

"Can you place your hand around me? I used to imagine that when I was smaller and it would help me fall asleep."

"Sure." That was the only reply Chris got and a hand was wrapped around him.

“Also, I just wanted to say…thanks for everything.”

"Anytime Chris…anytime.”

It felt so right to look after a child, even if its only for one night. It also pained her greatly as Chris was hurt the most by someone he should have been able to love and trust. Part of Josephine wondered why would anyone hurt such a gentle and cheerful kid, while the other half wanted to smack the living lights out of Chris’s parents. Josephine soon wondered into the realms of dreams _I will find a way to solve this…I know I can. Maybe i can ask Cordelia for help._


	2. The confrontation

Chapter 2

Josephine groaned as the sunlight shined into her eyes and she slowly woke up. She shifted to a more comfortable position and pulled the pillow closer to her chest, smiling contently as the warmth seeped back to her. She soon started to fall back asleep and let out a soft sigh as she slowly slip back into the world of dreams. She could have returned completely if not for a cold draft of wind that blew across, causing her to shove in response. Josephine instinctively dragged up the covers to her shoulders and tucked it around herself, blocking out the cold. She managed to enjoy her cocoon of warmth for a few minuted before the pillow she was snuggling with moved and snatched away her blankets.

Josephine let out a confused groan and wondered what kind of pillow would steal her blanket. Opening her eyes, she saw a small tuft of brown hair coming from under the blanket. Using her hand, she lifted the covers to not reveal a pillow, but Chris who was curled up against her. Josephine let out a contented smile as she watched Chris’s chest rise and fall with every breath he took.

Just as she was about to lay her head down to get a couple more hours of sleep, she heard a yawn coming from under the covers. _Dammit, I woke him up..._ Josephine thought as she felt the cover move. Sitting up, she watched as Chris rolled onto his back. She stayed silent as he pushed the covers off and cast his eyes around the room, becoming confused by the unfamiliar surroundings.

“Where am I…” Chris started to say before Josephine spoke up from behind her.

“Hey Chris, you slept over at my place remember?” Josephine said softly.

Chris’s head whipped around in shock and fear at the voice, only to see Josephine and he instantly calmed down, putting his fears to rest.

“Oh yeah…guess i kinda forgot…” Chris said with a nervous laugh and stood up to stretch his hands and legs.

“So…how’s your head feeling?” Josephine asked, gingerly plucking away a few strands of Chris’s hair to get a better look.

“Pfft, Im pretty tough remember?”. However, he winced when Josephine touched the bruise, and shot a very obvious fake grin at Josephine, trying to play it cool. “Uh, S-see?" 

“Yeah, i guess it does look a bit better then last night..” _Sure, the bruise wasn’t as big as last night, but it still bore the same angry purple colour._

“Im pretty sure it doesn’t hurt that much anymore, not unless someone touches it…” he said as his stomach released a loud grumble.

“That’s good i guess...Well it looks like _someone_ is hungry!” Josephine teased, making him smile sheepishly in response. “Say.. want to head down to the cafe for breakfast? Im sure Kate can whip up something nice for us.”

Tossing the rest of the covers off her, Josephine slid out of bed and made her way toward the door. Starting to feel hungry herself, she wanted to get a move on. Looking over her shoulder, Chris was still sitting on the edge of the bed. “Uhh…you coming Chris?"

“Yeah…Sorry, was just thinking about something."

They both made their way down the stairs and walked out into the cold winter. The cold air hit Chris, causing him to shiver in response. He tried to hide it but Josephine noticed he was shaking again.

“Hey, you know i could go grab a scarf for you if you want.”

"Nah, Im good.” Chris puffed his chest out slightly and tried his best to stop shivering, and to his relief, succeeded

 _Well, it seems like Chris is acting like his old self again._ “Alright, at least we won’t be outside for long anyway, the cafe is only a 5min walk.”

As they got closer they got to the cafe, the stronger the scents of cinnamon, sugar and freshly baked pastries became. Josephine was also just able to make out the sounds of Chris’s stomach rumbling. “Come on, let’s get out of the cold”, Josephine said, walking towards the door of the cafe. She held the door open for Chris and followed inside a moment later.

As the door shut behind Josephine, she smelled all sorts of delectable scents overpowering her nostrils. The air inside the cafe was warm and smelled very sweet, like someone was making a fresh batch of honey-coated pastries. Walking to the counter, she could see Katherine pulling a pan of muffins out from the oven.

“Ow-ow-ow, that’s hot!” Kate exclaimed, dropping the hot pan onto the counter adjacent to the oven in the process. “One moment please!” she called over her shoulder. She tossed her oven mitts onto the counter, and upon hearing Josephine clear her throat, Kate looked up with a wide smile to great them.

__“Heya, Joey!” Kate replied happily as she walked to the counter. “Give me a sec.” She walked back to grab the muffins and placed it on the counter between them. “What can i get for you?” She peered over the counter and saw Chris who was eying at the muffins. “Oh hey, you brought Chris along too.”_ _

__“Yeah, hey Kate” Josephine said with a smile. “What do you have there?” She pointed towards the pan between them on the counter, her stomach grumbling too as she smelled the muffins._ _

__“You mean these?” Kate said as she stifled giggles with her hand. “ These are chocolate chip and almond muffins fresh from the oven. You want some?”_ _

__“Yeah, the smell delicious!” Chris piped up, making Kate and Josephine chuckle at the sudden outburst._ _

__“We’ll take two” Josephine said as she reached for her nonexistent wallet. Feeling around in her pockets, she realised that she had accidentally left it back at her drawer. Turning back, she nervously said, “Hey…I kinda forgot to bring money out…Is it ok if I pay you back next time?”_ _

__“Oh, don’t worry about it Joey, these are on the house.” She pulled two muffins off the pan and slid it towards the pair on plates. "Let me know how they turned out, its my first time making these!"_ _

__"Thanks, will do!” Josephine said as she walked over to one of the empty table to set down the plates and hopped onto a chair. Chris clambered onto the other chair on the opposite and pulled one of the plates towards him. Licking his lips hungrily, he took the muffin in his hands and devoured it in a matter of seconds, leaving behind crumbs all over the table._ _

__“Dang, Chris! Were you starving or something? It’s like you haven’t eaten in a long time. Sheesh…” Josephine picked up her own muffin and took a bite, but stopped when she noticed Chris fidgeting nervously in his seat and avoiding her gaze. Setting her muffin down, Josephine started to feel more and more uneasy due to the silence. Using her hand, she lifted her hand to gently guide Chris’s face to look at her. “Chris, don’t mess around here. When was the last time you ate?”_ _

__“I…I didn’t have anything to eat last night…other then the hot chocolate you made us last night…” Chris said as his stomach let out another loud rumble._ _

“Wait, what?” Josephine asked in shock and sat up straight. “Please tell me your parents at least _fed_ you yesterday.”

__Chris poked the empty wrapper in front of her for a few seconds before answering Josephine. “They, um…no, not really. I usually have to steal something from the pantry or eat up at one of my friend’s house.” Chris glanced up at Josephine and recoiled at her angry expression._ _

“Woah, woah, woah, let me get this straight. You parents don’t _feed_ you?” Josephine said darkly , her tone barely concealing her rage.

“Well… they do sometimes, but they mostly spend all their money on alcohol.” Josephine didn’t respond. Instead , she stared wide eyed at Chris, jaw tight. As she struggled to figure out a respond, she thought. _What if Chris is smaller in size is because…No. No,no,no._ Josephine couldn’t finish the thought as the answer was too disturbing for her. _There is no way Chris’s mother could be that irresponsible…_ It was common knowledge that if any mother were to drink alcohol while pregnant, their child would have growth problems like being smaller in size compared to other children of the same age. With the sudden realisation, everything suddenly started to fall into place inside Josephine’s mind. Her right eye started twitching and stared blankly at the wall behind Chris. There was no way she could just stand and do nothing about it. She _had_ had to do something about it.

__Sliding out her seat, Josephine scarfed down her muffin before saying, “Come on, I want to have a word with your parents.” Grabbing a couple more muffins from the counter, she tossed them over to Chris, waiting as patiently as possible for Chris to finish eating them. When he finished, Josephine gestured to the door with her hand, “Ready to go?”_ _

__“Yeah… I guess” Chris said nervously and slid out of his seat. “So..um, where do you live exactly?” Josephine ask as they left the bakery. When Chris didn’t respond right away, Josephine sat down next to him and talked softly. “Listen, I promised to you yesterday that I would not hurt them right? I just want to talk to them and figure things out.”_ _

__“Okay… It’s this way” Chris said and gestured in the direction that they were facing and started walking forward._ _

__All around them, many other children played in the thick snow from last night’s storm. However, Josephine was in no mood to join them for some fun. She was on a mission: toast Chris’ parents straight. She would have ran off with all her speed, but was forced to absently follow Chris at his slow pace. After the left the outskirt of the town, Josephine started to wonder how much further they had to walk._ _

__As if Chris was reading her thought’s, he spoke up, “My house is just up ahead, around that bend.” And true to his words, a minute later, his house was-if it could be called that in the first place-popped up from behind thick groove of trees. Most of the windows were shattered and the whole structure itself seems like it was about to collapse on itself. The wooden fence running around the property seemed like no one had bothered to tend it in ages, with many pieces of debris scattered everywhere._ _

As they approached the dilapidated structure, Josephine winced as she looked around. _Chris lives here?!_ She also realised that there were several rated apples that were already rotting near a puddle a mysterious pale green liquid. Cocking an eyebrow, she looked at Chris, “Your kidding right?” Chris’s soldiers slumped a little before he responded, “No, I’m not…Come on, I’ll let us in” The two of them climbed the two stairs that lead to the front door and pushed it open.

 _Remember, don’t judge them until you actually meet them…_ Josephine thought as the door closed behind them. 

__“About damm time you got back you useless child! I hope yer know your in heaps o’ trouble for the dammed little stunt you pulled yesterday!” came a rough voice from the back of the house._ _

__“Umm,guys? We have a guest!” Chris called back, his voice becoming shaky and with fear._ _

__“What?! Who is it?” The same voice shouted back angrily, this time noticeably louder._ _

_Well this is already off to a good start…_ Josephine walked in front of Chris and glanced at Chris over her shoulder, remembering to keep her anger in check. As they rounded the corner, Josephine saw two people sitting on separate couches. Chris’s father who was lying on his side with a bottle of hard liquor and a magazine way beyond Chris’ age range. He glanced towards Josephine and stayed at her and Josephine started to feel a bit nervous from the way he was looking at her. A moment later, he took another sip from his bottle and closed the magazine.

__Josephine shot a look at who she assumed was Chris' mother. “So, uh... Chris-”_ _

__“Who are you?” Chris’s father roughly asked. He sat up and tossed his magazine onto the coffee table._ _

__“Hi... um, my name is Josephine and I let Chris sleep at my house last night,” Josephine said carefully. “I wanted to talk to you about how you treat him. He’s told me some pretty crazy things...”  
“Ugh… You want to handle this one?” Chris’ father drawled as he looked over at his wife. His thick, drunken tone made it difficult for Josephine to understand him, and he reeked of alcohol, making her nearly reel back in disgust. He had a rather large gut, and it looked like he hadn’t showered in days, maybe even weeks._ _

__“Oh, you’re a useless piece of trash, you know that?” Chris’s mother replied haughtily from her position on her couch. When her husband didn’t respond, she got up and threw the book that she’d been reading at him, hitting him just under the ear. “You don’t do nothin’ ‘round here! All you do is drink and read yer dirty magazines!”_ _

__“Hey, I–” Josephine tried to say before Chris’ mother glared at her, making her quiet._ _

__“Oh, I’ll deal with you in a minute, missy!” She yelled at Josephine, making her take a step back in shock. Turning her attention back to her husband, she yelled, “I’ve asked you a hundred times to clean the damn yard! You haven’t cleared it in months!” She stood in front him and stared at him until he spoke._ _

__Chris’ father took his time finishing his drink before he responded, “Oh, shut up you old hag. I’m gonna get another drink.” To his wife’s astonishment, he got up and shoved her aside. He walked past Josephine and Chris and walked around the corner, further down the hallway._ _

__With a disgruntled huff, Chris’s mom finally turned to Josephine. “And just who might you be?” she asked in distaste._ _

_Uh, I’m pretty sure i already said what my name was just now…”_ “I’m Josephine, one of your son’s friends” Josephine said, slightly offended by the other party’s attitude. “Our son? You mean that worthless, no good and always getting into trouble child?” 

“She’s _not_ worthless. He's not that kind of child even if he constantly gets in trouble.” Josephine shot back.

__“Did you see what he did yesterday?” She grabbed a bottle of liquor on the coffee table and took a large gulp from it. “Ugh…why do I even drink this trash.” She asked herself._ _

“Yeah, she told me _after_ you guys attacked him and drove him out into the worst snow storm of the season ever!” Josephine shouted through her gritted teeth. “I found him crying outside my fucking house _in the middle of the night!"_

__“So? He can fend for-“ the mother said before getting cut off by Josephine._ _

“So? _So?!_ Do you even care about you son?” Josephine screamed at the top of her lungs. She felt Chris grab her and squeeze, but that didn’t stop her from continuing her rant. “If I had not found him, he could have gotten really sick or _died_." 

__“Well, we didn’t make him run away!” Chris’ mother said defiantly as she slid off the couch. Walking towards them, she said “Look, I did not want him to runaway, but he didn’t really give us a choice. My husband was drunk last night, and when got up to get another drink, he saw Chris pouring all the drinks down the drain. All i heard was a bunch of glass smashing downstairs and when i went down, Chris had already ran out through the back door! I tried to find him outside but he was already gone.”_ _

__“Well, apparently you didn’t try hard enough. Do I assume that he told you what he did to my stash last night?” Chris’ father said as he walked back to the living room._ _

__“Yeah, she did! Do you even know why she dd that?” Josephine growled as she talked._ _

__“Yeah! She hates us!”_ _

__“No! Chris only did that to get you to get rid of your drinking habit as he thinks that it ruined your family. All he want is a normal family like his friends, but your obsession with drinking has ruined that for him!”_ _

__“Oh, give us a break. That stupid child-“ Chris’ mother didn’t get to finish before Josephine shoved her, making her fall to the floor._ _

__“Don't call him that!” Josephine said it with edge in her voice. Josephine only meant to push her back a few feet, but apparently she drank a bit too much. Josephine breathed heavily as she was ready to attack again, but she felt Chris tighten his grip._ _

__“Josephine, It’s…stop, please?” You promised you would not hurt them…Its okay, I can…”_ _

__“No, it’s not!” Josephine said angrily, cutting him off. She turned her attention back to Chris’ father and said, “Chris' gonna live with me for a while. He deserves so much better than...” She gestured around the room. “This!”  
“Oh, I don’t think so. What makes you think that I’m just gonna let my son leave with you?” Chris’ mother asked haughtily. “He’s staying here with us, and there’s absolutely _nothing_ you can do about it.” Turning her attention to Chris, she barked, “Go up to your room. Your father will be up later to have a talk with you.”_ _

__“Uh-uh! Come on, Chris, let’s get outta here. You’re coming with me!” Josephine said as she turned around to leave, walking back towards the front door. Hearing a small sniffle, she looked back in concern and saw that Chris wasn’t following her. In fact, he was going in the opposite direction, heading towards the stairs. “Uh… Chris? Are y–you coming?” she asked, fearing the possibility that he might not go with her._ _

__“I… I can’t,” Chris sniffled, trying to hold back his tears. “Things would just get worse for me if I went with you…” He turned away from her and dejectedly started walking up the stairs towards his bedroom, his head hung low in defeat. Pausing halfway, he cast his gaze to the side and said, “Thanks for... Thanks for letting me stay with you last night…”_ _

__“Wha… Chris?” Josephine asked hesitantly as she watched him climb up the few remaining steps and walk around the corner._ _

__“Now, I think it’s time for you to leave, you,” the Chris’ mother said, walking around the corner. She sidestepped Josephine and opened the door, gesturing rudely for her to leave. But when she noticed Josephine turning towards the stairs, she quickly jumped in front of her and started pushing her out the open door._ _

__Remembering the promise she made with Chris, Josephine didn’t fight back and allowed herself to be corralled out the door. If she had retaliated, though, Chris’ parents would have been in for a world of hurt. But her promise meant a lot more than the satisfaction of teaching those two parents a lesson did._ _

__“I’ll be back later!” Josephine yelled as she was roughly shoved out onto the front porch. “And if I find out that you laid a fucking hand on her, I’ll beat you so hard no-one will be able to recognize you!”_ _

__“He’s mah son, I can do whatever I… whatever I want,” Chris’ mother said in a menacing tone, swaying back and forth a bit. Walking back inside, she yelled, “And if I ever see you come back around here again, I’ll have you thrown in jail!” She slammed the front door with a resounding thud before Josephine could respond._ _

“No one deserves the sort of crap you put him through. No one!” Josephine yelled at the house. _I got to go tell Cordelia about this, maybe she can help!”_

__She didn’t see Chris wave goodbye from his bedroom upstairs._ _


	3. A Shocking Discovery

Cordelia was sitting down at her desk upstairs in her room. She had just finished her morning routine of cleaning both her bedroom and her living room downstairs and was just about to relax on her bed when she heard something smash downstairs, startling her.

Not knowing what to expect, she crept to her bedroom door and quietly pulled it open, wincing as the hinges creaked. Not seeing anything, she opened the door and slowly paced down the stairs. A moment later, she finally saw what, or who for this case, had caused all the ruckus.

"Joey! How much of my house are you going to destroy?" Cordelia asked angrily. "You know, it's getting a little annoying that you destroy everything in my house ever time you visit. You need to learn how to be-"  
"Cordelia! Stop, this is important!" Josephine snapped and ran forward to place her hand on Cordelia's shoulders. "It's about Chris, he needs our help!"

"Chris? What's wrong with him? Wait..." Cordelia said as a smirk grew on her face. "Okay, what did he and the rest of his friends do now?"

"No, Cordelia, it's not that at all!" Josephine said as she shook her. "It's about his parents! They abuse him!"

"Wait, what?" Cordelia's grin flattered as she gently pushed Josephine away from her.

“You won’t believe what happened today! I went over to his house with him and I… and I…” Josephine faltered as she clenched her teeth. Stomping her feet on the floor, she yelled, “I left him there! Gah! How could I have been so stupid?! I gotta go back and get him!” She turned and yanked the door back open. However, she was stopped by Cordelia pulling onto her shoulder. "Let me go!" She shouted while trying to get out of Cordelia's grip.

"Not until you tell me what the heck is going on!" Cordelia retorted. "You can't just tell me that Chris is being abused by his parents and then try to run away! Come on, you know better than that Joey."

Josephine fought for a few more moments before giving up. "Ugh, fine!"

"Good, now let's go over to my couch and you can tell me the whole story."

“Cordelia… I…” Josephine huffed angrily as she sat down, trying to catch her breath. “You aren’t going to believe this…”

“Well, I’m not going to believe anything if you don’t tell me.”

“Yeah, yeah, I know. Remember last night? How we had that huge snowstorm?” Josephine started poking at her cushion as she sorted her thoughts  
.  
“Mhm?”

“Yeah, well, just as I was about to go to bed late last night, I found Chris walking outside my house.”

“Huh? What was he doing outside?” Cordelia asked, her eyebrows furrowing in confusion.

“That’s what I thought! So of course, me being me, I went out to see what was up. I found him wandering around like he was in a daze. I called his name a couple of times and he didn’t even hear me! I ran right in front of him and he didn’t even see me until he walked right into me. When he finally looked up, his eyes were all glazed over like he was looking straight through me. But that’s not even the worst part. He had a huge bruise on his head because his father hit him with an empty liquor bottle!” Josephine took a deep breath to calm her racing heart.

"Wait, did he have a concussion?" Cordelia asked, voice full of concern. "Did he have a hard time remembering things while you were with him?"

“Well… he didn’t remember that he slept at my place when he woke up if that counts. I mean, you would probably be the same way if you woke up in a totally different house, right?”

“Josephine, I… I don’t know,” Cordelia said as she shifted nervously. “How big was the bruise?”

“Um…” Josephine scratched the back of her neck with her hand as she thought back to last night. “Let’s see…about a little smaller than the size of a mug? Yeah, that sounds about right.”

 _"About the size of a mug?!"_ Cordelia exclaimed.

"Yeah, so I brought him to my house and made us some hot cocoa, and he told me...well..., I guess he kinda told me everything." Josephine shuddered as memories from the previous night flowed through her mind.

"Everything?" Cordelia prompted as Josephine lost herself in her own thoughts.

“Oh, sorry…” Josephine took a deep breath before she continued. “Yeah, everything. Like how his parents don’t love him, how they don’t take care of him, how they don’t feed him much, and how his father drove him out of the house last night.”

The story finally shared, Josephine stared at the floor, thankful to have shared her burden with someone. As the silence dragged on, she felt a little awkward as she waited for Cordelia to speak up. Looking up in curiosity, she jumped slightly when she saw Cordelia’s expression. Saying that Cordelia had a shocked look on her face would be a huge understatement. Her mouth was hanging open loosely, and her eyes were wide open.

“Yeah, Cordelia. It’s that bad,” Josephine said, her shaky voice breaking the silence between the two of them.

“Josephine, I... How can her parents treat him like that?” Cordelia finally asked.

“I don’t know!” Josephine exclaimed. “And when I tried to leave, I asked Chris to come with me. I didn’t want to leave him in such an awful place, but you know what he said? He said no, saying that things would only get worse for him if he did!” Changing subjects, she fidgeted before she spat out, "On top of that, I think I know why Chris seems underdeveloped, and I'm pretty sure I'm right!"

"Um..."

Josephine cut her off, "Chris' mother drank while she was pregnant!"

“What? There’s no way that she’d do that, Joey.”

“Yeah? Can you explain why Chris is underdeveloped?! His parents drink like it’s the end of the world!”

“Joey, I–”

“Well?!”

"I… I don’t know,” Cordelia said unsurely. “There’s… no! His mother wouldn’t do that!!”

“Cordelia, have you ever met his parents?” Cordelia stayed silent. “I didn’t think so. And you know what else? They live in a freaking dump on the outskirts of town!” Josephine stood up once more. “Cordelia, you should’ve seen him last night! He… he…” Cordelia trailed off as she choked on her words, her emotions getting the best of her. Tears started forming in the corners of her eyes, which were quickly wiped away. “It’s just, I… I can’t stand by and let Chris stay there...”

Cordelia was taken aback, she had never before seen such strong emotions coming from Josephine from the time they spent together. Standing up, she placed her arms around Josephine's shoulders and pulled her into a reassuring embrace. As Josephine slowly regained her composure, Cordelia took a step back and confidently said, "I've heard enough, Josephine. Come on, let's go get Chris!"

 

After getting ready, Cordelia went to get Josephine and proceeded to Chris' house. Reaching the road just outside the dilapidated structure, Josephine held out her hand, motioning for Cordelia to come closer. "Cordelia, listen," Josephine said in a hushed tone. "Chris' parents are just-" A screech from inside the house made their heads snap towards the house. Without wasting a second, Josephine ran towards the house, slammed through the front door and ran up the stairs. Whipping her head around, she tried to search for the source of the yell frantically but was responded with and eerie silence. Entering the house with her father, Cordelia found Josephine pacing in place, unsure of where to go. Before she could ask what to do, Josephine spotted Chris' mother sleeping on a couch with an empty bottle of liquor in her hand. Josephine ran up to the woman and violently shook her awake, sending the empty bottle to the floor. "Where the fuck is he?!" Josephine shouted at the drunken, half-awake woman. She began to speak but Josephine stopped and listened when she heard another scream come from the upper floor.

"Josephine, this way!" Cordelia called out as she ran upstairs. Stopping at the landing, she glanced into an open room, but a quiet whimpering sound quickly drew her attention to the only closed door at the end of the narrow hallway. Throwing the door open, Cordelia ran forward and the scene shook her core.

Pinned beneath his father, Chris held a thin, beaten pillow over him in a vain attempt to shield himself from his raised hands. Just as his hand began to fall, Cordelia ran in between them and slammed him against the opposite wall. Walking forward, she kept him pinned on the floor in a heap. Looking back behind her, Cordelia found Chris still cowering at the foot of his bed.

A couple of moments passed before Josephine burst into the room, quickly locating whom she came to protect. "Chris! Thank goodness you are..." she started saying before trailing off when she say how messed up Chris' arms were.

Upon hearing her voice, Chris cautiously glanced up and with his eyes full of tears, he looked like he was on the verge of a breakdown. However, that was not what shocked Josephine. When Chris let the pillow fall away, she noticed something terrible, something that made her heart plummet and her stomach twist into knots. _No. Oh no, no, no, no!_

Chris' left arm was bent at a funny angle and it hung awkwardly off to his side, Josephine knew what a broken arm looked like, and this was far from it. His brown hair was tangled and his face was also covered in dark purple and black bruises, showing what Chris' father had tried to permanently disable him. Josephine's whole body prickled numb with anger.

"Josephine! I knew you'd come bac-hack!" Chris choked out as he let go of the pillow. He stood up on shaky legs and started to limp over to Josephine while wiping tears from his eyes. He was only able to make a couple of steps before Josephine scooped him up in a hug, and as he felt the familiar embrace of Josephine, he collapsed, sobbing uncontrollably.

Josephine could only stare at the broken arm and her body trembled with unfocused energy. She wanted to punch the monster the rest of the way through the wall.

"Joey, you need to get Chris to the hospital immediately! Alright?" Cordelia asked in slow, even words as she kept her eyes trained on Chris' father, trying to keep Josephine from doing something that she might regret.

Cordelia's words gave focus to Josephine's will. Anger gave away to grief and Josephine cracked, "I'm so sorry, I should have never left you alone..." Josephine murmured, rubbing the boy's back reassuringly as a tear slipped from her eye. "Everything's gonna be fine Chris, I swear it."

Cordelia winced as the hate Josephine had leveled upon the man. "Josephine, you have to get him to the hospital _now!_ " Cordelia ordered as she kept an eye on Chris' father, watching him with the gaze of a hawk as he tried to get back up.

"Hop on Chris," Josephine said as she bent down to let Chris climb onto her back. "Now let's get you to the hospital." She said as she walked out of the room, leaving Cordelia alone with Chris' father.

'So, mind telling me what the heck is going on here?" Cordelia said in a firm and menacing tone.

"I ain't gotta tell anyone about mah business," Chris' father replied haughtily, slurring his words. With a drunken roar, he lunged towards Cordelia, intent on taking his anger out on the person that attacked him. As his gaze swung up to find his attacker, he flattered momentarily as he found the only person in the room, instantly recognising who it was, Police Sergeant, Cordelia E. Steeling his resolve, he figured that it didn't matter if it was the Police Sergeant or his bitch wife that attacked him, he was going to put that person in their place. Swinging his fist back, he gasped as he was shoved onto Chris' bed when Cordelia attacked him from the side.

Bristling with anger, she pinned down the drunk father, ignoring his cries of anger and rage as he unsuccessfully tried to get back up. "You know, attacking the police can get you at least three years in prison right? In addition to that, beating your child-"

" _You_ broke into my house and attacked me!" the father yelled back, cutting her off. "I was well within my rights to defend mahself, and I was just in the middle of disciplining my son! And what gives you the right to take my son away from me?"

Cordelia huffed, "Well, I had more than enough reasons to believe my friend, Josephine, that Chris is living in an abusive home." Cordelia replied. "Besides, you physically holding her down and _beating him in front of me_ was evidence enough!"

"What?! Why would believe that stupid woman? She's a nobody!" the male yelled, still trying to get up from Cordelia's grasp. Giving up after a few moments, he continued, "That stupid person broke into my house earlier and threatened me and mah wife!"

"No, she didn't!" Cordelia said firmly while she pushed down harder on him, "She didn't break into your house last night, Chris let her in. And I'm much more inclined to believe Josephine, one of my closest friends; above a father who was just criminally assaulting his son moments ago."

"I was disciplining him."

"For what?"

"For bringing others into mah house without my permission."

"But you just said that Josephine broke into your house," Cordelia countered with a smug smile.

"I...I...Fine! She didn't break into mah house, but she _did_ threaten me and mah wife. And that stupid boy deserves to be punished!"

"Since when does punishing someone involve breaking one of their arms?!" Cordelia exclaimed incredulously.

"Well, he-"

"There is absolutely nothing that anyone can do that to deserve such harsh treatment like that!" Cordelia cut him off. _Josephine was right, Chris' parents are way out of control!_ Seeing no other option, she continued in a cold and measured tone, "Seeing that this is no place to raise a child, Josephine and I and going to take care of him for the time being."

"You can't do that! His _mah_ child, I can do whatever I want with him!"

"For the time being, his not yours anymore, and we'll let Child Protection Services sort this out when they get here," Cordelia replied. "Like I was saying, Chris is staying with us." A few moments passed in awkward silence as the father just glared at her. "Alright, I'm going to let you up, but only if you promise to remain civil."

Chris' father continued to glare at her for several moments, then finally relented. "Fine, ah promise..."

Cordelia released her grip on the father and watched him stumble to his legs. "I'll be back in a few days with a CPS representative from Kansas City. As the sergeant of the police force, I'm officially placing both you and your wife under house arrest in the meantime. Be warned, I'll know if you or your wife try to leave the property," She turned around and walked downstairs, leaving the disgrace of a father alone.

She was going to tell Chris' mother the same thing on the way out, but as she passed the living room, she saw that she had passed out. Again. Shaking her head with disgust, Cordelia left the house and slammed the door shut behind her. Walking out on the road back home, she took out her phone to get officers to keep the house under survellance, leaving Chris' parents alone with their misery.


	4. Revelations

Reaching her house after a 10min walk, she entered her house into the living room and was greeted with an eerie silence. 

"Luke, you there?" She called out, looking around for her brother. Cordelia blew a few errant hairs out of her face and walked to the kitchen. She checked around the corner, under the table and even in the pantry.

Nothing.

She turned around and saw the dirty dishes from last night still unwashed in the sink. She rolled her eyes in annoyance as she thought, _Great, Luke is not up yet... Maybe I should get him his own alarm clock..._

Cordelia turned and walked back into the living room and went up the stairs, fully intent on waking up his little brother. She thought back to the day Luke moved in with her. She had gone out of her way to make the bedroom special for him by installing floor to ceiling bookshelves to hold his favourite books. Taking things a step further, she also got him a bed, a matching nightstand and a lantern so that he could read at night.

Stepping in front of the door, Cordelia gently tapped on it gently and called out, "Luke, you awake yet?" The ensuing silence told her that he wasn't. With a shake of her head, Cordelia softly opened the door to find him asleep and curled up under the covers. "Luke!" Unmoving, he slept on like a rock, so she quietly walked inside. With a small chuckle, she poked him with her hand. And gently shook him awake "Hey little guy, it's time to wake up..."

"But I don't wanna get up..." Luke groaned as he pulled the covers up over his head. "It's too early..."

"Luke, it's almost noon and you should get up now," Cordelia said softly, gently pulling the covers off him. "Come on, you still have homework and chores to do." When he didn't respond, she kept rocking him back and forth, trying to get him up.

"Can I have five more minutes?" Luke mumbled, obviously still half asleep. He pushed Cordelia's hand away and rolled over, facing the window. Using his hands, he pulled the covers back up, squeezing them tight.

Cordelia sighed in mild annoyance. _Oh come on already..._ Glancing up, she noticed a few stray beams of light leaking through the curtains. Cordelia cracked a sly smile as she walked to the curtain and said, "Hey Luke, I'm going to give you one more chance to get up" in a serious yet playful tone.

"G'way"

"What was that?"

"I said gimme like, thirty more minutes..." Luke groaned, remaining in bed.

"Luke, wake up!" Cordelia said and Luke only mumbled something incomprehensible back. Cordelia ripped opened the curtains, allowing the bright morning sun to completely fill the small bedroom.

"Ugh...okay! I'm up, I'm up! Just close the curtains alright?" Luke groaned, shielding his eyes with his hands. He pushed away his blanket and sat up. "You know my eyes are sensitive in the morning..."

"Were you up late reading again?" Cordelia asked with a chuckle.

"Huh?" Luke said as he stretched his arms wide. He fought back the urge to yawn before answering, "Oh, umm..., obviously not!" Glancing over his shoulder, he quickly pushed an exposed corner of a book the rest of the way under his pillow. He looked back up and laughed nervously at Cordelia's perplexed expression.

Cordelia cocked an eyebrow, "Well, your eyes are bloodshot and you normally don't sleep in this late."

"Uhh..., nope! Nothing at all!" Luke stammered. Trying to change the subject, he asked, "Say, have you already had breakfast? We can go out to get something if you want." Luke said while sliding out of bed and rubbed his eyes.

"I'm fine, there's some bread in the kitchen if you want. And since you're awake, go do your chores and homework before enjoying yourself. "

All Cordelia got was a sigh from Luke and he was gone. She went to write a report regarding the incident earlier before proceeding to the kitchen downstairs to find Luke. "Hey, I have to go somewhere now, remember to do your homework."

Luke yawned and asked, "Hey, I'm still a little tired, can I go back to bed for awhile?"

"Alright you sleepyhead, but you better be awake when I get back in awhile," Cordelia said before opening the door to leave the house and going to the hospital. While walking to the hospital, she mindlessly chewed her lower lip and thought to herself. _That arm, can anyone really recover from that?_ She remembered how Chris' arm looked back when she found him. Lifting her own arm, she shuddered at the idea of how it would feel if her arm was broken like that. Before she knew it, she was already at the hospital. _I have to be strong...Not just for myself, but for Josephine and Chris._

Taking a deep breath, she walked inside the hospital and straight up to the reception desk. "May I ask which room Chris is in?" Cordelia asked. The nurse types something into her computer, pulling up a screen to search for room numbers. Her dark brown hair is tied up in a ponytail, and she is wearing a lot of makeup. "He's on the third floor. None of the operating theatres are scheduled to be used today, so he should be out in the recovery room soon."

"Thanks," Cordelia replied and proceeded to the elevator. As she made her way down the hallway, she saw Josephine talking to the doctor. Not wanting to miss out on the conversation, Cordelia closed the distance as quickly as possible. "...had to put him under? For what?" came Josephine's indignant voice. "Chris should be coming out of the operating theatre any minute now. The procedure was relatively simple, all we had to do was temporary realign his bones back into place and apply a splint to keep his arm in position to prevent further injury." Looking towards Josephine, "As for why we put him under, no child should go through that much pain, especially when we set the bones back into place. We gave him a strong sedative to dull the pain for the procedure."

"Doctor! The patient in room 301 is in respiratory distress, we need you know!" shouted a nurse as she ran up to him. She ran down the hallway back into the room she came out from.

"I'm sorry you two, but duty calls. You're welcome to check on Chris, he should be in room 312 by now." He proceeded to run down the hall, leaving behind Josephine and Cordelia alone together.

Cordelia looked over to Josephine to see that she sat down on one of the chairs, trembling. She was visibly trembling which Cordelia quickly noticed. Growing a little concerned, Cordelia hesitantly asked, "Joey? You...are you alright?" When she didn't respond, Cordelia sat down next to her and extended an arm around her friend. "What's wrong?"

Josephine closed her eyes and looked away, fighting to keep her emotions in check. She took a couple slow breaths and stuttered, "Re-Remember when I had that bad ac-accident quite a while back?" Cordelia nodded. "When I ran across the street, seeing that car coming straight at me, I...I..."

"What?" Cordelia asked softly, prompting her to continue.

"Please, please, please don't tell anyone else I told you this, but I was..." Josephine looked away. "...I was scared." I was scared that I would not be able to walk again, scared that I might not even make it. And when I woke up and saw all you guys there, I acted tough and made it sound like the accident was nothing, but it was the first time I ever had such a serious accident like that. I had bad accidents before, but that was the first time I was actually scared. "

"Josephine, I...umm"

Josephine turned away from Cordelia to hide the tear rolling down her cheek, she quickly wiped her face clean of any evidence and leaned her head on Cordelia's shoulder. They stayed like that for a few minutes as Cordelia let her friend pull herself together. She wasn't sure quite how to continue so she felt relieved when Josephine pulled away.

"You...you know, I think that Chris' room is down that way." Cordelia pointed down the hallway with a shaky hand. "Come on, we should see how his doing." As they started walking down the hallway, Cordelia asked, "Are you gonna be alright?" Josephine waited a couple of seconds before nodding. "You know, if you every need someone to talk to, you can always stop by my place, day or night."

Josephine glanced back up at her with a small smile. "Thanks, Cordelia, I think I might just do that."

"No problem," Cordelia said, returning the smile. Gesturing down the hallway, she said, "So let's see if we can find his room."

"Yeah...yeah, let's go." The two of them made their way down the hallway and stopped when they found Chris' room. Peering through the window, they saw him fast asleep in one of the two hospital beds in the room.

Just as Josephine moved to go inside, Cordelia came to a sudden realisation that they knew nothing about Chris' parents. "Hey, hold on a second..." Cordelia trailed off as she lost herself in thought

"Yeah?" Josephine asked, her hand poised over the doorknob, Lowering it, she walked over to Cordelia. "What's up?"

"Do we even know _anything_ about Chris' parents?" Cordelia asked as she cocked an eyebrow. "Do you even know their names?"

"Yeah! Chris' parents' names are...umm...huh..." Josephine scratched her head as she looked off to the side. "I don't think Chris told me..." She glanced back through the window as she trailed off. "To be honest, today was the first time I even met them..."

"What? Surely we've met them sometime..."

"Nah, I don't think I've ever seen them around town...Also, why the heck are they living all the way out there anyways?"

"I don't know..." Cordelia said. "You know, I'm pretty sure that I have all the answer we need. If you want to stay here and watch Chris, I can run out there and see what I can find. I think it'd be a good idea to know as much as possible about them just in case we have to bring charges against them."

"Sounds good to me," Josephine said, glancing over at Chris again.

"Josephine, will..." Cordelia cleared her throat. "Will you be fine being here for a little while? If we are going to legally take Chris out of his parent's care, we have to do it the right way. We can't just take him out of his house and, uh...keep him, you know?"

"Yeah, I...I guess so. Umm, I'll see you later then?" Josephine asked, placing her hand back on the doorknob.

“Of course. I’ll be back as soon as I can,” Cordelia said, turning away. “Oh, and if Chris wakes up before I get back, tell him that he doesn’t have to worry anymore.”

“You got it, Cordelia. Good luck with your, uh… research stuff.”

“Thanks!” Cordelia called over her shoulder as she walked down the hall, heading back towards the elevator. As soon as she made it out the front door, she walked away, heading straight back into town.

\----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Yanking open yet another file cabinet, Cordelia muttered, "Ugh, how do some people _not_ understand the importance of proper organisation? I could have found Chris' file ages ago if someone took a little time to sort these out!"

Cordelia had been in the records room for the past 30 minutes, flipping through file after file. None of the cabinets were labelled and none of the files were in alphabetical order, leaving her flustered and more than a little angry. Because the police database server is currently down, she was left with only one option: to go through every single file cabinet in the room until she found her prize. At least the cabinets themselves were organised, neatly pushed up against the walls. The only space left between the two rows was a small table that sat below the only window in the room.

_Well, at least it's warm in here..._ Cordelia sighed and rolled her eyes as she reached the back of what seems like the hundredth drawer. In reality, she had only gone through seventeen of them, but she took quite a bit of time to get through, especially since she had to open and inspect every file. Finishing what seemed like the millionth file, she tossed it back into the drawer and slammed it shut. She sat down and let her shoulders slump as she looked around the room. She’d only gotten through about a third of the file cabinets, and she wanted to get done by a reasonable time. Glancing out the window at the other side of the room, she realised that she had only a few hours of daylight left.

She spent the next two hour in silence as she kept going down the line of file cabinets, knowing full well that she would find what she was looking for eventually. She had finished the first wall long ago and was now nearing the end of the second. Cordelia closed the bottom drawer of the second to last cabinet and moved on to the last one, shaking her head irritably as she thought, _I swear, if her file is in this last cabinet, I’m gonna…_ She pulled the top drawer of the last file cabinet open, grabbed the first file, and read the title.

_Chris: Relatives and– ugh!_ Cordelia stomped the floor with her foot. _I would have found this hours ago if I’d started on this side of the room!_ Swallowing her anger, Cordelia walked towards the other side of the room and threw the rather large file down on the table. She opened the folder and spread out the documents.

As she started to sort through them, she came across a series of handwritten documents titled 'Foreclosure on: Hazel Grey and Scott Temple'. _Oh, so that's what their names are..._ Even though the area was well-lit, Cordelia struggled to read the sloppy handwritten documents. To her annoyance, she had to waste several minutes to decipher the bad handwriting. _Josephine was right. I can't believe it, but she was right She has to hear about this..._ Cordelia placed all the documents back into the folder and made her way outside.

Night had fallen ago and it was snowing hard, almost as hard as the night before. "Ugh, I knew I should have grabbed my scarf..." Cordelia murmured, readying herself for the short trip back to the hospital. Cordelia ran from the police station, letting the building quickly disappear into the torrent of snow flurries falling down around her. It was a quiet night, and no one was out. Everyone in town was probably huddled close to their fireplace on this cold and frigid night. Thankfully, it only took her a few minutes to arrive back at the hospital. 

Walking inside, she removed some snow off her and went up to the third floor. She emerged back inside the hallway and hurried back to Chris' room. _How am I going to tell Josephine about this? Even worse, how am I to tell Chris?_ She stopped in front of the room and peered through the window. The sight instantly warmed her heart and couldn't help but take a few seconds to admire it.

Josephine was already fast asleep, her head precariously perched on the edge of Chris' bed, breathing evenly. Cordelia smiled and walked inside, quietly closing the doors behind her. She walked up to Josephine and listened to her snore for a few moments. _I hope she won't mind me waking her up...Besides, that position doesn't look too comfortable..._ Cordelia thought, cracking a small smile. Leaning forward, she used her hand to gently shake Josephine, trying to rouse her sleeping friend.

Josephine groaned as she slowly sat up. "Ugh...hey, Cordelia? Remind me to never sleep like that again. My back feels a bit sore..." She arched her back, making a few joints along her spine pop loudly. Looking up, Josephine fought back a yawn and quietly asked, "So...you find anything?"

"Yes, I...I did. But can we talk about this outside? I don't want to wake Chris up..." Cordelia whispered nervously, nodding towards the door. _And I don't want him to hear what I'm about to say..._ Josephine nodded back and they quietly walked back out into the hallway and sat on the seats, leaving the door slightly open behind them.

"Josephine I..." Cordelia sighed and set the folder down next to her. "As much as I want to say otherwise, you were right about Chris' situation."

Josephine cocked an eyebrow. "Really? Which part?" She asked, cocking her head to the side.

"How Chris seems to be a bit underdeveloped." Josephine's eyes widened in shock. "Hazel Grey, Chris' mother, had a drinking problem when she was pregnant, same with her husband. At the time, they were living near the southern part of town. Quite a few police reports show that even with a child, they continue to consume large amounts of alcohol, to the point where they were drunk all day and night. They had gotten several citations for public intoxication, disturbing the peace, stuff like that. Their tax returns show that they were very poor, so their neighbours had taken pity on them and had tried to help them out financially. Unfortunately, Scott Temple, Chris' father, went and spent all that money on beer instead of buying food and paying for the house, so they lost the house and had to move out of town."

"Cordelia...that's just...yeesh." Josephine paused, struggling to take it all in. _I knew it was bad, but...damm..._ She was about to continue but Cordelia started talking again.

"Josephine, I also spoke to the commissioner just now, he said that Chris' parents will be placed on trail in about two weeks as the holidays are around the corner. Of course, we have to find someone to look after Chris for him to be out of foster care house as I don't want Chris to be taken away from here with all his friends."

"I'll take care of him!" Josephine blurted out, a smile quickly growing on her face. "Now, who else can help me?" She brought her hand up to her chin. "Hmm...Kate? Nah, she's too busy running the cafe. Maybe Vin..."

"I'll do it," Cordelia spoke up. "I can take some time off work, and besides, I..."

"Wait, what did you just say?" Josephine's eyes lit up with hopeful excitement.

"I said that I can help take care of Chris," Cordelia replied. She wanted to continue talking when Josephine suddenly jumped up and pulled her into a hug, thanking her profusely.

"Alright!" Josephine said a little too loudly. "This is gonna to be awesome! Thank you so much!" A couple of seconds later, she noticed Cordelia was staring at her, a small smile on her face. Confused, she watched Cordelia point to a small sign on the wall that read "Quiet Area". "Oops, sorry," she whispered with a slight giggle.

Cordelia couldn't help but blush. Her heart skipped a beat and stuttered, "Oh that's, umm...that's quite alright. We both know that he deserved so much better, and I want to help you take care of him. Do remember that nothing is set in stone yet, but I'm sure we'll be able to figure something out"

"Anyways, I think I'm gonna stay here with Chris overnight, I don't want to leave him by himself you know? Waking up in a hospital with unfamiliar people might be scary to children. Besides, I think he would like to wake up to a friendly face."

"I know exactly what you mean." Cordelia walked past Josephine and into Chris' room. "So that's why I'm staying too! Two friendly faces are better than one."

"You sure?" Josephine asked with an uncertain smile, closing the door behind them "You know you don't have to." _Although, it would be really nice to have someone to keep me company_

"I know, but I want to. I need to make sure that his going to be okay. I feel as if I should be here."

"Heh, thanks...so..." Josephine trailed off as she eyes the only other bed in the room. Sleeping in the chair made her back hurt, and she didn't want to spend tomorrow with and aching back. She really wanted it, but she didn't want to come off as selfish. The bed only had one pillow and was just wide enough for two people to sleep on it side by side.

Luckily, Cordelia said, "Why don't we share the bed? It looks big enough if we lay back to back."

Josephine shrugged. "Sure, that sounds good to me," she said, hopping on the side of the bed and facing Chris. She held the covers up to let Cordelia slide in behind her. Even back to back, they nearly fit in the bed, but early was all they needed. She fluffed the only pillow, regretting that it was not as fluffy as the ones she have back at home.

_Oh well, that will do I guess._ "You good over there Cordelia?" She asked softly, feeling a tad bit weary. She pulled the blankets up past her shoulders and shifted, trying to find a more comfortable position.

"Mhm..." Cordelia replied. The warmth from the blankets and Josephine was quickly lulling to her sleep, and she found herself fighting to stay awake. "Goodnight Joey."

"Night, Cordelia." Josephine sighed as she finally let herself relax. It had been a tense day and she was glad that she finally had some respite. Closing her eyes, she felt Cordelia's body move slightly with every breath she took. She couldn't help but crack a smile. The feeling of someone else there with her was soothing in a way that she couldn't describe. Josephine wearily cracked her eyes open and saw that Chris was still fast asleep. "I promise I'll give you the best life ever, Chris" Josephine whispers as she hugged the sheets tight. Closing her eyes shut for the last time that night, she let herself fully relax as she drifted off to sleep. "I promise..."


	5. Taking care of business

Still half-asleep, Cordelia stirred under the covers and felt something both pleasantly soft and warm pressed up against her back. The thin sheets had done little help to keep her warm throughout the night, but this mysterious source of warmth had been more than enough to keep her content. She snuggled deeper into it, seeking more precious heat. The room was cold, but not so chilly that it demanded the temperature to be raised. Still groggy. Cordelia wanted nothing more than to just go back to sleep. Her internal clock, however, was screaming at her to get up.

Cordelia slowly cracked open an eye. Everything was bright, making her wince slightly. Judging by the amount of light entering the room, it should already be well into the morning. _Ugh, I guess now is as good as any time to get up..._ She took a deep breath and slowly released it, idly watching a fluff of dark-brown hair blow in her breath's wake. _Wait, what?_

Cordelia lay still. _Why would Josephine's hair be in front of me? Weren't we sleeping back to back?_ She tried to look up but quickly found that she couldn't; her head was pressed into Josephine's neck, angled so that her head fell short her own head. Perplexed, Cordelia tensed up her right shoulder, testing to see if it was free.

It wasn't. She quickly found that Josephine had wrapped one of her arms around her, with the sheets covering her arm. _Well, that explains why it is so warm..._ She kept still, not wanting to ruin the moment. It wasn't often that she got the chance to relax with such comfort. A few minutes passed as she relished the cozy feeling, snuggling even closer to Josephine. Cordelia smiled as she felt the other pulling her closer. When Josephine finally stopped shifting about, Cordelia nestled even further into the new grip. It was only then and only then it finally hit her. 

Josephine was cuddling with her.

Feeling rather awkward, Cordelia cleared her throat in an attempt to wake Josephine up.

Nothing. She slept on like a rock.

Cordelia rolled her eyes in annoyance. _Apparently she is a heavy sleeper_ She cleared her throat a little louder and gently moved backwards, coming close to pushing Josephine off the bed. "Hey sleepyhead, do you mind?" she asked, gently trying to pull herself out of Josephine's grasp.

"Wha..." Josephine mumbled, cracking an eye open. She jerked back a bit and slid off the bed, landing on the cold floor with a thump. "Ow! Um...sorry?" Josephine mumbled as she sat up and rubbed her eyes before looking up at Cordelia, her hair in a mess. "You slept alright?"

Cordelia blushed a little. "Yeah, I slept pretty well, all...thanks to you." Seeing Josephine blush, she added. "It's okay, I don't mind. It was actually...quite nice." Wanting to change the subject before things become more awkward, she got out of bed and brush some errant hair out of her face.

Checking her phone, she saw a few messages from Vincent, her partner, asking to meet at the station to discuss the matter regarding Chris. "Hey Josephine, can you look after Chris for a while, I need to go back to the station."

"Sure, I'll go get some food for Chris in the meantime. You want any?"

"No thanks, I will grab something later," Cordelia said as she left the room to go back to the police station. Entering through the doors, she immediately saw Vincent who was looking at the case folders. 

"Hi Cordelia, hope your morning was good. You want to discuss about the case?"

"Sure, let's go to the cafeteria, I need breakfast." Sitting down at a table with a cup of coffee and sandwich in each hand, she watched Vincent spread out the items in the folder on the table. "So, how did you know about this incident. It seems very serious."

"Well, I heard it from Josephine, it happened 2 days ago when Josephine found him outside her house, she brought him in to stay for the night and sent him back home the next day. However, you went back a few hours later and saw Chris being hit by his father, so his in the hospital recovering now."

"Should we go interrogate Chris' parents after this? I mean, it's best if we settle it fast."

"Sure, let's go in about 15min, we need to prepare anyways."

\---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

While driving to Chris' house, Cordelia and Vincent were discussing about what to about Chris.

"So, what do you actually intend to do about Chris? I doubt he will want to go into the Foster Care System."

"Actually, Josephine and I volunteered to take care of him, Josephine was the one that found out the problem, and Chris kind of considers Josephine as his older sister: it only makes sense for her to take care of him."

"I see, And what about you? Why do you want to help her?"

"I, well...actually am no really sure why I want to help her, I guess it was because I hate to see someone else in pain. Besides, everyone deserves a good life. If I can help Chris achieve that, why not do it."

"You always have strong maternal instincts, maybe that played a part in making the decision?"

"Maternal instincts?" Cordelia asked, confused.

"You looked after Luke since he was 9, like what a mother would do. Because of that, I think that both of you would be perfect to look after Chris." Vincent smiled warmly, but it flattered when he remembered what he researched this morning.

Taking note of the change in expression, Cordelia asked, "Anything wrong?"

"I...I read about the regulations regarding adoption before you arrived, and it may interfere with your current plans. You see, even though anyone can adopt a child, married or single, in order to adopt a _abused_ child, the prospective parents must be married and have a healthy relationship."

"Wait, you're saying that Josephine and I must be _married_ to take care of Chris?"

"I have not finished talking yet," Vincent said with a smile. "Normally to adopt a child, you must go through a rigorous screening process, which can take up to days or even weeks."

"You're saying we cannot take care of Chris?" Cordelia's shoulders slumped a bit.

"Cordelia, please, let me finish first. I think I've found a way to get around that. The law only pertains to children that are in the Forester care system, and since Chris is not in the system..."

“Then the law wouldn’t apply to him!” Cordelia said, her face lighting up. She thought they had it in the bag when she realized something else. “But would the court see it that way?” she asked nervously.

“I’m sure they would. Since Chris is not registered as homeless or in the foster care system, they cannot use that law against us. But let us not digress; we must first place his parents under arrest before we make such arrangements.”

"Agreed, maybe we should talk about the layout of the house? We are reaching soon. The front door is in bad condition, so breaching from the front should not be a problem. It is followed by a small foyer, narrow hallway that leads to the kitchen and the living room on the right. The stairs are near the end on the left. There are three rooms upstairs, Chris's being the first on the right."

"Okay, let's enter from the front then."

Reaching the house, they took one more look at the surroundings and got into position by the front door. Knocking on the door five times, Vincent shouted, "Residents of the house, we are the police! You are under arrest for child abuse."

"Like hell you are!" came a deep, scratchy voice from inside, followed by sounds of locks clicking shut from inside the house. "There ain't no way yer gettin' in here!"

"You have one last chance to surrender before we come in for you!" Vincent yelled at the house. He waited for a few moments but was met with silence. "Alright, let's move in."

They both knocked down the door and entered the house, quickly seeing Chris' parents on the couch. Some shouts of protest and a few moments later, Chris' parents were marched out, handcuffs securing their hands together.

"Scott Temple, I am putting both you and your wife, Hazel Grey, under arrest for the crime of abusing your child, Chris. You shall be severely punished for what you have done."

They were proceeded to be thrown into the back of the police car and the door was shut. and started driving back to the station. After reaching the police station and settling all the problems, Vincent and Cordelia were discussing about Chris again.

"So, since now that Chris' parents are in custody, what should I do now?" asked Cordelia.

"Well, the earliest you can go to court is ten days after Valentine's Day. If you choose that day, it is best that you and Josephine both be there if you want to claim full custody of Chris, who of course needs to be present as well. Furthermore, I think Chris should be in the care of you and Josephine until the trail. Also, I suggest that you live as normally as you can, the trial may be a little stressful for Chris."

"Well, it seems like you got everything sorted out in your head, I might as well follow what you have planned. Anyway, thanks for the advice. But I need to go find Josephine to discuss how to accommodate Chris."

"Sure, go settle the matter at hand first, I can handle things here for the time being."

"Bye Vincent," Cordelia said as she made her way back to the hospital.


	6. The Start Of Something New

“Wow, that didn’t take too long,” Josephine said as Cordelia walked back inside the hospital room. “You weren’t even gone an hour!”

She turned her attention back to the game of cards that she and Chris were playing and asked, “Hmm… do you have any se…” Josephine paused to inspect Chris' face for anything that would give his cards away. When his cocky smile faded slightly, Josephine quickly asked, “Um… ya have any sixes?”

“Nope!” Chris said cheerily. “Go Fish!”

“Darn!” Josephine chuckled as she picked up a card. _Another seven? Well, if I have three of them now, then where’s the last one? She added it to the other two sevens in her grip._ “Your turn!”

“Alright…” Chris' eyes narrowed as he examined Josephine's handful of cards. Knowing that Josephine had probably changed her answer to let him win, Chris gave her another cocky smile. He took one last glance at the three cards in his hand. He had a four, an eight, and a seven. “Do you have any… sevens?”

“Ah, dammit, you got me!” Josephine said, throwing her cards down in defeat. She looked back at Cordelia, noticing that she had a smile on her face. “So what’s up, Cordelia? Everything went smoothly?”

“Of course! Everything went off without a hitch,” Josephine said, walking up to the bed. “I see that you two kept busy while I was gone?”

“Haha, yep! Chris here just finished wiping the floor with me for the fourth time! Who knew he was so good at cards?” Josephine said with a chuckle, gathering the deck. Throwing them all back in the box, she set it down on the small table next to her and slid out of her chair.

"Oh, I almost forgot, the doctor came by just now and said that Chris can be discharged from the hospital tomorrow." said Josephine.

"Oh... we can come by every afternoon to make sure Chris is doing fine if you would like. And we can both come to bring him home three days later if you would like," suggested Cordelia.

"Ok sure, that sounds like a good plan."  
\------------------------------------------------------------

Three days later

"Heya Chris, we are here to get you home, you ready?" Josephine said as the doctor walked in, "Chris has been recovering very quickly and can now go home. If you would kindly follow me, We can go get Chris checked out."

"Sounds good to me! After you, Cordelia." Josephine gestured towards the door.

"Heh, thanks." Cordelia moved forward, followed closely by both Chris and Josephine. They proceeded into the elevator down the hallway and went to the waiting area. "Alright, I'll go get the paperwork and sign a few things before we can leave." The nurse behind the counter went to riffle through a small pile if manila folders, pulling one out a few moments later. Walking back to the counter, she opened it and pulled out the first sheet, laying it down for Cordelia to sign. " Just sign here, here and here then we'd be done!"

"But what about the charges?" Cordelia asked while signing her name in a few different places and looked back up, placing the pen down next to the documents.

"Ah yes. You need not worry about that; Vincent helped to pay this morning," the nurse responded, pulling the signed documents off the counter and stored in a separate folder inside a small filing cabinet.

"Wonderful, so that's it?" 

"Yep, that's it. Chis is all good to go!" The nurse replied as Cordelia smiled and walked back to Chris and Josephine.

"So, can we get out of here now? I don't really like hospitals..." Chris asked.

"Yeah, me neither Chris," Josephine said, shuddering quietly as she remembered about her own trips to the hospital. Shaking the unsettling thoughts and feelings from her mind, she quietly followed Cordelia outside. Turning to look at Cordelia, she asked, "So now what?"

"Well, if you two are hungry, we can all go to MacDonald's for a late lunch and we can figure out what to do from there. Also, I'm buying!" Cordelia said merrily.

"Yeah, sounds great to me!" Josephine said. Looking towards Chris, she asked, "What do you think? You up for some good old hamburger and fries?"

"Totally!"

"Awesome, let me go grab Luke, and I'll meet you two there!" Cordelia said as she walked back home.

\------------------------------------------------------------

"How's your burger, Luke?" Cordelia asked while taking a bite of her own.

"It's pretty good," Luke said as he glanced around the table, perplexed. While it wasn’t odd to see Cordelia and Josephine spending time together, what put him off was the fact that Chris was between them, sitting across from him as he devoured his own burger. Cordelia hadn’t told him much, just that they were meeting Josephine and Chris for lunch to talk about important things.

“So… what’s going on? You said we had to talk about something important?” Luke set his burger down, grabbed some fries, and popped them into his mouth one by one as he waited for Cordelia to respond.

“Yes, that’s why we’re all here,” Cordelia started, setting her own burger down. She took a small sip of her drink before saying, “I’m sure you’re wondering why Chris was in the hospital for a few days, right?”

After a silent nod from Luke, she continued. “Right, well, Chris can tell you all the details later if he wants to, but what happened was that his parents weren’t all that nice to him, and they didn’t treat him so well. So because of that, Chris is going to be living with us and Josephine from now on.” She paused, wanting to see how Luke would react to this. She was a little uncertain of what he’d think of the whole situation, but she still gave him a chance to speak nonetheless.

“Wow… that’s just…” Luke murmured, nervously glancing up at Chris. Shaking his head, he tried to play it cool. “Heh, so this is gonna be like one long sleepover?” He looked up hopefully at Cordelia, sneaking a furtive glance at Chris a second later. Noticing a similar expression on his face, Luke smiled inwardly and then looked back up at Chris.

“Exactly,” Cordelia said, visibly relaxing. She hadn’t realized that she’d been so tense. “He’ll be sleeping in the spare bed in my bedroom for now until we get things all figured out. After the trial, which is just under a couple weeks, we can–”

“Wait, hold on, a trial?” Luke asked, cocking an eyebrow. “For what?”

“Well, Luke you see, um… , Josephine and I volunteered to become Chris' legal guardians, seeing that his real parents aren’t responsible enough. The trial is just a legal thing to make our custody of him official,” Cordelia said, smiling gently as she watched Josephine playfully tousle Chris' hair.

“Really? That’d be awesome!” Luke exclaimed. “So does that mean Chris will be my brother? Or, um… wait, what would he be, my half brother?”

“Technically, he would be…” Cordelia started, trailing off as she realised that she had no idea what that would make Chris. “To be honest, I’m not so sure… Josephine? You have any ideas?”

“Uh… where are you asking me? You’re the smarter one, you should know!” Josephine said, nudging Cordelia’s side playfully with a arm. She finished off her own burger and took a sip of her drink. “Anyways, we need to hurry up; I’m already late for work today, and we still haven’t set anything up.”

“Oh! In that case then… How about he stays with me Monday through Wednesday, and then he stays with you Thursday through Sunday? And every other week we switch times, making it even for the both of us. Of course, exceptions can always be made if something comes up. That sound good?”

Josephine nodded, “Yeah, sounds good to me. Sorry guys, but I gotta bail; I gotta do some work if I want to pay the bills, ya know? See ya later!” And with that, Josephine went out of the doors to get a cab.

“So, um… who’s place am I staying at tonight?” Chris asked, finishing off his meal. He crumpled up her trash into a small ball and tossed it on the table.

“How about you stay at my place tonight?” Cordelia asked. “I’m sure Luke would love the extra company, and besides, I need help setting up the tree!”

“Yeah! I was wondering when we were gonna go get one!” Luke said, not noticing Chris' perplexed expression.

“A… tree?” Chris cocked an eyebrow, "Why would you need a tree in the house?”

“For Christmas, silly!” Cordelia said, smiling. “How can you not kn– oh…” Her lips formed a small ‘o’ as she quickly realised that Chris' parents may not have given him presents all throughout the past holidays. Her heart rate sped up as she felt a pit of guilt form in her stomach. _Everyone, especially children, deserve to get presents!_

“Tell you what, you two…” she trailed off, smiling excitedly as a plan formed in her head. “Josephine and I are gonna make this the best holiday ever!”

\------------------------------------------------------------

Down at the bustling market, everyone was going about their business, buying decorations, holiday treats, and gifts for their loved ones, and that’s exactly what Cordelia, Luke, and Chris were doing.

“Alright, you two, all we need now is a star to put on top of the tree!” Cordelia said, carrying a couple bags of decorations as they all walked through the marketplace for what seemed like the umpteenth time. “You two still warm?” Back at home, she had been smart enough to throw on her scarf, using it as a source of warmth.

“Yep!” Luke said, rubbing his hands together to generate a little bit of warmth. “Although I probably should have grabbed my gloves and scarf…”

“Well, you should’ve listened to me!” Cordelia chuckled. She opened her backpack and stowed her bags of supplies in them.

“Hey, how about we find a star? I think we need a new one because I couldn’t find the old one anywhere in the attic,” suggested Luke

“Ooh! How about this one?” Chris piped up. He walked over to a vendor two carts down from them, pointing to a large blue star. “That'll look so awesome on our tree!”

“Not bad, but it doesn’t match the rest of the decorations we bought…” Luke said as he inspected the cart’s wares. Stars of all sizes and colours hung from many strings. As he perused the items for sale, a shiny green one caught his attention, instantly reminding him of emeralds. “Hey, Cordelia, how about that one?”

“No, I don’t think a green star would look that good on a green tree,” Cordelia chuckled, “How about that one?” She pointed at a medium-sized golden one.

“Sure, that one looks good!” Chris nodded, not even bothering to quell his unbridled excitement.

“Alrighty, you two! Now, all we need is the tree!” Cordelia said after purchasing the item. “I think I remember seeing someone selling them on the other side of the market.” They turned around and made their way back towards the other side of the square, finally spotting their goal.

The three of them walked into the small tent, their shoulders slumping as they saw all of the empty slots where trees used to be, save for two in the rear. The air was stale and musty, filled with the overpowering scent of dried pine needles. They walked back there, and Cordelia was both pleasantly surprised and relieved when Chris and Luke both voiced their approval simultaneously.

“This is perfect!” Chris piped up.

“Yeah, let’s get this one, Cordelia!” Luke pointed to the one on the left.

While there was technically nothing wrong with it, it was a bit on the small side, but it mattered not. If it made them happy, Cordelia had absolutely no problem buying it. She turned to the old man manning the cash register on the other side of the tent and called out, “How much for this one, sir?” She pointed at the tree that Luke and Chris wanted and waited patiently.

The old man looked up from his magazine and noticed Cordelia. “Ah, greetings. Since almost as the trees are gone, I’ll give ya’ll a good discount… Um… does thirty dollars sound fair?”

“Sounds good to me!” Cordelia said, carrying the exact amount of cash to the cashier. Turning around, she found Chris trying to lift their new tree up on his own.

Noticing Cordelia's concerned expression, Chris said confidently, “No worries, Cordelia, I got this!”

“Hold on Chris, your arm is still injured. How are you going to carry it?" Cordelia walked over while gently pulling the tree out of Chris' grasp into her own.

The three of them walked out the door into the marketplace which was less busy compared to before and brought the tree home.

\------------------------------------------------------------

“Hey, do you two think you can handle setting up the tree all by yourselves?” she asked. “I have to go run some boring old errands, and I’m sure you two wouldn’t want to stick around.” Cordelia hoped that she made her last sentence sound incredibly boring; in reality, she was planning on buying them presents for the upcoming holiday, and she didn’t want the surprise to be ruined.

“Yeah, that sounds like fun!” Chris said. “Also, if you see Josephine later, can you ask her if I can borrow the quilt I used when I slept at her place the other night? It was really soft and warm, and I’d really like to sleep with it again.”

“Okay. I’ll be sure to ask Josephine if that’s fine,” Cordelia said while she left the house.

 _Alright… Where to now?_ She started going through her mental checklist. _Buy ornaments and other various supplies… Check! Buy tree… Check! Go talk to Cheryl about making new scarves for Josephine, Chris, and Luke? Not checked._ Cordelia began the short journey to Cheryl's shop.

Thankfully, it was just a few blocks away, a fact that Cordelia was grateful for. The sun was starting to make its downward journey, letting Lake Wood grow colder and colder. Cordelia approached the door and pushed it open, shivering as a blissful warmth flowed over her. She closed her eyes for a moment as she enjoyed feeling the cold be abolished from her body, only opening them when she heard the familiar voice of her friend.

“Welcome to the Chattel!” Cheryl said, walking downstairs from her workroom. “Where everything is–” She cut off her practiced routine when her gaze fell upon Cordelia. “Ah, darling! How are you doing on this dreadfully cold day?” Cheryl replied as Cordelia closed the front door.

“I’m doing quite fine, Cheryl,” Cordelia said, smiling as Cheryl courteously took her bag pack from her back, placing them on a nearby table. She followed her to the living room and hopped on the couch, Cheryl sitting down beside her.

“Listen, if it’s not too much trouble, and I know this is a little bit of a late notice, but is there any chance that you could make a set of special scarves for Josephine, Luke, and Chris?” Cordelia asked. Her heart beat faster as she saw Cheryl raise an eyebrow at the mention of Chris' name. “I think they’d make great presents, and… um…” she trailed off when Cheryl's face contorted into a confused expression.

Raising a hand to stop her friend, Cheryl asked, “I’m sorry, dear, but did you say Chris?” Cordelia nodded silently. “Why him in particular?”  
“He, well, Josephine and I, um…” Cordelia trailed off nervously as she let her nerves get the best of her.

After much gentle coaxing from Cheryl, Cordelia was finally able to tell their tale. Although she started off a little shakily, she grew more relaxed and confident as she confided in one of her most trusted friends.

“So… yeah, that’s about it,” Cordelia said, sitting back. She’d just finished telling Cheryl everything, from when Josephine crashed through her door to earlier this morning. “Chris is going to be staying with Luke and me at my house on and off throughout the week, and while Vincent assures me that everything should go smoothly, I’m still a little worried about how the courts might interpret this rather unique situation.” Her leg started tapping the floor on its own as she started imagining the judge proclaiming them unfit to become Chris' legal guardians.

“Cordelia, I…” Cheryl cleared her throat and shook her head. “I must say, what you and Josephine are doing for Chris is truly wonderful. So, tell me, did you have anything special in mind for them?”

Cordelia told her exactly what she wanted, feeling relieved when Cheryl told her that she’d be able to have them ready in time. After exchanging hugs and goodbyes, Cordelia had bidden Cheryl a nice evening and had walked outside, happy that she’d been able to finish her errands for the day.

As Cheryl happily walked back towards her house, she heard a familiar voice pierce through her thoughts, breaking her from her reverie.  
“Hey, Cordelia! What’s up?” Josephine asked. Not even giving her a chance to respond, she continued on, her voice cracking in her excitement. “Never mind that; come on! I got something awesome to show you!” Like before, she didn’t give Cordelia a chance to respond as she proceeded to run off to her house. Cordelia had no choice but to follow her.

Reaching Josephine's house, she was already at the front porch waiting for Cordelia. "Now that we’re here, I have somethin’ to show ya!” She went into her house and stood next to the coffee table

Well? What’re you waiting for, a written invitation? Come on!” Josephine yelled back at a Cordelia, who was still standing outside. Josephine looked back behind her, making sure that her little secret was hidden from Cordelia's view. She couldn’t help but let a silly smile slip onto her face as she waited for her to come in.

Cordelia walked inside and closed the door behind her. As she walked up to Josephine, she cracked a smile and giggled at her friend’s bubbly excitement.

“Josephine, what is it that has you so excited?” She craned her head every which way as she tried to peer around her friend, but to no avail; Josephine moved to block her every move.

“Alright, Josephine, you got me,” Cordelia said in defeat, sitting on the couch. “What’s the surprise?”

“This!” Josephine proclaimed with an air of excitement. She jumped to the side and revealed her surprise: a brand new, top of the line scooter for Chris. Judging by the look on Cordelia's face, she approved.

“Josephine, this is…” Cordelia trailed off as she found herself at a loss for words.

“Cool, huh?”

Cordelia looked up into Josephine's eyes, a wide smile on her face. “Joey… Chris' gonna love this! Where’d you get it?” She walked up to the box and started reading all the details listed on the side.

“Oh, while I was killing time at the hospital yesterday, I saw an ad for a sports store in the next town that had these. As soon as I saw it, I knew I had to get it for him! Besides, his scooter is just like, what, a plank of wood and some wheels?” Josephine chuckled. “He definitely needs a new one, especially after all the stuff he’s been through.”

“B– but wait; if you saw the ad yesterday, then how did you…” Cordelia trailed off as the answer suddenly clicked in her head. With a smug smile, she asked, “You didn’t have to work at all, did you? You just said you had to go work because you wanted to go and get this for Chris, right?”

“Yep! So what do ya think? He gonna like it?”

“You kidding me? He’s gonna love it! This one is definitely a step up from what he has now."

“That’s what I was saying!” Josephine's grin faltered as she remembered something. “Say, Cordelia… any chance that you could help me wrap this up? I’m, uh… having a little trouble trying to figure it out…” Josephine bashfully looked away. She hated to admit it, but even she needed help from time to time.

“Sure, I’d be more than happy to help!” Cordelia said. She glanced about and noticed that there wasn’t any of the usual present wrapping supplies laying around. “So, uh, where’s the wrapping paper?”

“Um… it’s right here…” Josephine giggled nervously as she pulled out a large mass of crumpled-up wrapping paper from behind the couch. “I got a little angry trying to wrap it, and I… well, you know...” She trailed off, starting to feel embarrassed. She had gone and bought all the necessary supplies to wrap Chris' present back in New York, but had quickly ran out of supplies as she kept messing up. The wrapping paper that she’d bought was light blue with white dots on it, and she had even bought a red bow to go on top.

“And you brought me here to help you wrap it.” Cordelia giggled, finishing Josephine's sentence for her. “You know, all you had to do was ask, Joey. I’d never say no to a friend in need.” “Here, lend me a hand and we’ll have this wrapped in no time!”

“What do you want me to do?” Josephine asked, relieved that Cordelia wasn’t going to tease her about her inability to wrap a simple present.

“Here, you hold onto the tape…” Cordelia said, biting her tongue as she figured out the best way to wrap Chris' present. “Ah! Here we go.” She flipped the wrapping paper over and placed the box right in the centre. She pulled all the sides up over the top of the box, folding the corners and extra material.

“Tape here, please!” Cordelia nodded to the top of the box, where the wrapping paper’s edges met with the other side. She waited patiently, letting Josephine lay a piece of tape across the edge. _Humph… Not as precise as I would have liked, but it’ll have to do!_ “And here… and there… and lastly, right here,” Cordelia said, pointing out the last few places to tape up. “And done!”

Josephine sat back and admired their handiwork, thankful that Chris' present was neatly wrapped in the wrapping paper. “Heh, thanks Cordelia, I couldn’t have done it without you.” She gave her friend a small hug in thanks. “Well, I mean I probably could have figured it out sooner or later!”

“Oh, I’m sure…” Cordelia rolled her eyes with a giggle, eliciting a playful shove from Josephine. “Oh, that reminds me, want to come over on the morning of Christmas? You’d be more than welcome to join us, and I’m sure Chris would love to hang out with you!”

“Really? Yeah, that’d be awesome! So, uh, should we, like, get this present to the library, then?”

“Sure, I think I might be able to hide it in my cupboard…” Cordelia trailed off as she thought about it. "Yeah, I guess not one will find out."

“Alright, that can work, but how’re we gonna get it to your place without anyone seeing it?” Josephine scratched the back of her head as she thought. “I don’t want to ruin the surprise, you know?”

"Maybe I can get Kate to look after Chris and Luke for awhile tomorrow morning before bringing it over."

“Oh, yeah, okay…” Josephine sat down and rubbed her eyes, letting out a tired yawn. “Anyways, I think I’m gonna go sleep if that’s alright with you. So you’re good?”

“Yeah, I think I have it already well under control,” Cordelia said with a chuckle. 

Josephine yawned again, this time much louder than before. “Here, I’ll walk you out…” She gestured towards the front door.

“Alright… Oh!” Cordelia stopped just as soon as she started walking. “Chris wanted me to grab a certain blanket, a quilt to be exact. He said he used it the night that he slept over here, and that he’d really like to use it again.”

“Heh, really? Alright then, gimme a sec and I’ll be back in a jiffy.” Josephine walked back into the living room and grabbed the quilt from the couch. She walked back to the door and helped Cordelia place it in her bag pack. “There! All set!”

“Thanks, Joey,” Cordelia said. “So I’ll see you tomorrow, then?”

“Definitely. I’ll be around your house around noon; I gotta take care of a few things first.”

“Perfect. See you then!” And with that, Cordelia walked out the door, leaving Josephine all alone.

Completely.

Alone.

Josephine bit her lip, listening to the wind blow outside her house. That’s all there ever was to keep her company; the wind and the occasional bird or two. No one ever really came by, and it had been really nice to hang out with Cordelia, even if it was for a short while.

Josephine turned around, sat down, and looked around her living room. She’d built her home to be very spacious, very open. She wanted her house to be that way so that she’d feel less constrained, but it was that very same openness that made her feel empty inside. Her heart was starting to fill with loneliness.

With a long, deep sigh, Josephine closed the door shut behind her. Her head hung low, she trudged through her house and slowly walked upstairs. With a heavy heart, she walked into her bedroom and flopped down on her bed, letting herself sink into it.

She grabbed one of her pillows and clutched it tightly to her chest, pulling the blankets up over her shoulders. She couldn’t place a hand on why, but now she felt lonelier than ever before. Maybe it was because Chris was staying over at Cordelia's house, or maybe it was because she was now once again snuggling with an inanimate object. However soft it was, it still couldn’t replicate the feeling of a warm body that she so craved. Flicking her hair out of her face, she sighed pitifully as she closed her eyes, silently craving that which she did not have.


	7. Nightmares

“No, leave me alone!” Chris shouted, running into the kitchen. He slammed the door behind him and leaned against it, using his small weight to keep it closed. Alas, it was all for naught as both his parents used their combined weight to push it open. Stumbling forward, Chris barely caught his balance before his parents rushed in, their hands raised to attack. In the brief moment, before they struck, Chris looked up into his parents’ faces and saw hate in their eyes. It was at that moment that Chris realised they weren’t going to merely give him another beating.

They wanted to kill him.

“Get away from me!” Chris screamed. He darted underneath his father’s legs and ran back out into the hallway, sprinting for the front door. His heart beat so fast he could feel it thumping in his chest. Quickly closing the gap to the door, he tried to rip it open. He didn’t think it was possible, but his heart beat faster as he realised the door wouldn’t budge.

His head darted every which way, searching for a way out. Upon seeing none, he gave the door another few desperate tugs. “Ugh, come on!” Suddenly, sounds of heavy footsteps came from behind him, down at the other end of the hallway.

“You’re goin’ nowhere!” Chris heard his father yell as he advanced on him. He heard him snorting angrily as he stepped closer and closer, and he whipped his head around. His father was only a few steps away, and he had a wicked sort of bloodthirsty grin on his face.

Chris looked back at the door, still tugging on the handle. Something told him to look up, and he finally realised that the deadbolt was locked. Without wasting another moment, he fumbled with the latch and upon hearing it click, he took a step back and ripped the door open.

Throwing caution to the winds, Chris ran outside, and he jumped over the steps leading up to the door. He landed roughly on the dirt, skidding a couple feet. Catching his balance, Chris started running towards the open gate to freedom.

He knew he shouldn’t, but he couldn’t help himself. He glanced over his shoulder and saw that his parents had just emerged from their house, watching him run away silently. Standing in place, they both wore smug looks on their faces as they watched him. Apprehension rose in Chris' chest. _What are they–_ A bright flash of white light suddenly flooded his vision as his head erupted in pain.

Chris had just unknowingly run right into the fence, stopping him dead in his tracks. If he had been a foot to the right, he would have been able to run straight through the open gate, but in his fear and confusion, he hadn’t noticed that he had drifted to the left ever so slightly, putting him directly on course with one of the support poles.  
His head ringing, he groaned as he shook his head. His vision was blurry and he saw spots swirling all over the place. He blinked several times as he tried to clear his vision, and in his stunned state, he forgot to keep track of his parents.

The sound of heavy footsteps snapped him from his reverie. Chris' eyes snapped wide open and he saw two menacing shadows creep over him, coming from behind. Knowing that he’d lost and that he had nowhere to run to, he trembled uncontrollably as adrenaline flooded his system. Fearfully, he looked up with tears in his eyes, his lower lip quivering.

“Please…” he begged, his voice barely a whisper as his parents advanced on him silently. A couple terror-filled seconds later, they both stood over her, coldly staring down at him. “Please… I’ll promise I’ll be better!” Chris said, backing up against the fence. His heart beat faster and his breaths came in small and fast.

His parents blocked him off and there was no escape.

“Please…” Chris croaked. “Leave me alone…” He closed his eyes; he couldn’t bear to look anymore.

“Never!” Both his parents yelled at the same time.

“Chris!” someone's voice called out. “Chris, wake up!” He felt someone shake him roughly and he opened his eyes to see not her parents, but a concerned Cordelia standing beside his bed. His eyebrows furrowing, Chris looked down, and instead of the cold, hard ground that he was just on, he found himself laying on his side on a comfy mattress, a cold blanket slung over him. He hesitantly sat up, peeling the sticky sheets off him. As soon as he did so, though, he was struck by a blast of freezing air.

“Cor– Cordelia? Is that you?” Chris whimpered, quickly pulling the sheets back over his shoulders. “Wha… where are we?” He couldn’t stop shivering. The damp sheets were his only source of warmth, and there wasn’t anything else to warm him. Even the mattress and the pillow beneath him were soaked through.

“You’re staying at my house for a week or so, remember?” Cordelia asked gently, climbing onto the bed. She settled down beside the quivering child and laid a reassuring arm on him, only to pull it back when she noticed the sheets were damp. Raising a hand to Chris' forehead, she quickly realised that Chris was soaked with sweat.

“Were you…” Cordelia cleared her throat as she made herself comfortable, sliding up close to Chris. “Were you having a nightmare?”

Chris looked up into Cordelia's eyes and nodded silently. “My parents… They– they were trying to kill me, and they… and they...” he choked out, barely able to speak clearly and curled up into a small ball. He closed his eyes and tried to steady his errant breathing, but to no avail. A few moments passed in silence as he tried to calm himself 

Several moments passed and Chris finally started to warm up and the shivering ceased. Looking down, he realised that the blanket was not the quilt from Josephine. In fact, that quilt was pushed into a ball at the other end of the bed.

Standing up on shaky legs, Chris stepped to Cordelia's side and settled down against her. As soon as their bodies touched, a blissful warmth enveloped his, and he sighed happily. Even though he hoped that Cordelia would just drop it and let him go back to sleep, there was no doubt in his mind that she was going to ask him about the nightmare.

“So… um, do you want to talk about it?” Cordelia asked, smiling gently as she let Chris sit down next to her. It was not uncommon for children to seek comfort from someone after going through a particularly rough nightmare. She was glad that Chris thought of her as someone she could turn to for help, and that filled her with feelings of joy. “I promise it’ll make you feel better if you do…” Chris rubbed Chris back with her hand.

Chris' breathing slowed down a good bit and he relaxed into Cordelia's embrace. A sense of security filled him, something that he hadn’t felt in ages, giving him the strength to say, “The nightmare… it felt so real; it was like I was really back at my parents’ place. They chased me through the house, and I barely escaped out the front door. I would have escaped if I didn’t run into the fence, and as I came around, my dad had me pinned. The next thing I saw was…” he trailed off, letting his nerves get the best of him. The images were still so fresh in his mind, it was if they had really just happened. He shuddered as he saw his father raising his hands to strike him in his mind’s eye.

“The next thing you saw was what?” Cordelia asked, prompting Chris to continue. All throughout Chris' tale, Cordelia had never stopped rubbing his back, taking care to not be rough with his still recovering arm.

“The… their eyes,” Chris croaked, “They really wanted to… to kill me…” He couldn’t help but let a few tears slip from his eyes. He looked away, trying to hide them from Cordelia.

“Hey… don’t be scared,” Cordelia said softly, pulling Chris closer to her. “You’re safe here, and your parents are going to be locked away in jail for a very long time for what they did to you, and there’s no way that they’ll ever be able to hurt you again,” Cordelia said firmly, hoping to reassure him. “You have Josephine and I to watch over you now; never forget that. You can always depend on us…”

“Re– really?” Chris asked. His cheeks were stained with his tears, and he couldn’t help but feel weak, but he didn’t care about hiding that anymore. Cordelia's words brought strength to him, and his ragged breathing calmed ever so slightly. “You… you mean that?” His words quivered with an unspoken hopefulness.

“Of course, Chris, you have absolutely nothing to worry about.” A small smile graced her lips as she asked, “Say, how about we get some sleep now?”

Cordelia pulled a couple pillows over to them. She let Chris grab one, and just as she set her own head down on her pillow, she felt Chris tug on her arm, pulling it closer to her like a blanket.

“But… but what if I have another nightmare?” Chris asked, letting his fear get the best of him. “I don’t want to go through something like that again…” He snuggled closer to Cordelia as if she could protect her from having nightmares.

“Oh, I don’t think you will…” Cordelia murmured, already feeling the weary pull of sleep on her mind. She pulled the sheets back up over them and murmured, “Besides, no one has nightmares when they’re with someone…”


	8. Christmas Eve's Party

"Cordeeelia!" Luke's voice echoed from downstairs, rousing Cordelia from her peaceful slumber. "Breakfast is ready!"

Cordelia groaned softly pushed her head deeper into her favourite pillow. It was nothing special, but it had a special sort of sentimental value to it. The pillow itself was quite thick and fluffy, but that wasn't the thing that made it special. The pillow case covering the pillows was of the softest cotton, grown and spun in Saudi Arabia. It had been quite expensive to procure, but she had saved the money just for it.

Feeling something equally soft pull her left hand, Cordelia cracked her eye open and glanced down at Chris who was still fast asleep. His back was pressed up against her, and his head was lying on one of her outstretched arms. A few strands of her hair was hung down in front of his mouth, swing back and forth with each small inhale and exhale.

Smiling, Cordelia gently woke Chris up. Leaning down, Cordelia whispered into his ear, "Sleep well?" She sat up and waited for Chris to finish yawning.

"Yeah, a lot better after..." Chris shuddered as he remembered his rather disturbing nightmare. He proceeded to curl up into a ball like last night again.

Seeing the action, Cordelia knew she had to keep Chris' mind off the nightmare. "Hey, Luke's already made breakfast, you wanna go down and grab something to eat?" She rubbed Chris' back while trying to avoid his injured areas. Upon hearing Luke call her again, Cordelia hopped off the bed and walked to the bathroom. Turning back to Chris, she said, "You know, you should also get ready first before going down, If I'm not wrong, he also made muffins, his own recipe too!"

"Sure, that sounds great!" Chris said as he got off the bed and went to get ready. 

Cordelia waited on the bed for Chris to be done, Upon seeing him walk out of the bathroom, she said, "Come on, let's go get some of the muffins, I'm starving." With a nod of his head, she walked towards to her bedroom door and the two of them silently walked out into the hallway.

As soon as they reached the top of the steps, Cordelia said, "Say...have you ever had coffee before?" She knew giving Chris coffee wasn't the best of ideas, but she wanted to keep Chris in the best mood as possible, especially since it was Christmas Eve. 

"Nah, but I heard that it's really bitter. I don't think I will like it." Chris said as they rounded the corner towards the kitchen.

"It's only bitter if you don't put creamer in it. I don't like mine black at all." Cordelia smiled as her gaze settled on Luke setting up a tower of muffins on the table. "Wow, Luke, you really went an extra mile today!"

Chris' mouth was already salivating, Chris darted forward and crammed one muffin into his mouth. He swallowed the muffin before saying, "Dang, Luke, these are really good! What's in these?" Chris grabbed another and devoured it as well.

"Ah, it's nothing special really." Luke sat down on a chair and grabbed a muffin for himself. After taking a bite from it, he continued, "I just took the mix from the box and added a bunch of chocolate chips to it."

"Nothing special?" Chris repeated Luke's words, staring at him incredulously. "Are you kidding me? These are great! You have to show me how to make these sometime." He grabbed yet another muffin and started blowing his way through that one.

"You better slow down or you might end up getting a stomachache," Cordelia warned as she grabbed the pot of coffee from the counter and poured an equal amount into three empty mugs on the table. She placed the coffee pot back and grabbed the creamer. Cordelia poured a generous portion into everyone's mug and then pushed Chris' towards him.

"So...yeah, tell me what you think. It's really good when you put a lot of creamer in it." Cordelia raised her own mug with to her own lips and took a sip. Glad that she'd put the right amount of creamer in it, she watched as Chris reached for her own mug.

"Hey, everyone!" Kate's voice sounded from behind Cordelia, shocking her wide awake along with everyone else at the kitchen table. If she didn't have a good grip on her mug, Cordelia would have spilled her coffee everywhere.

"Ah! Kate, how'd you get in here?" Cordelia asked, putting her half-empty mug on the table. She waited with a cocked eyebrow as Kate walked to the table, taking the only other chair at the other end. Cordelia was never one for sudden surprises like that: such things leave her heart racing and adrenaline pumping through her veins.

"I came in through the door, duh!" Kate said, rolling her eyes as if Cordelia asked a question with an obvious answer. "Say, is there any coffee left? I'm as perched as a peach." Kate stared at Twilight with wide eyes and waited for her to respond"

"Um...yeah, there should be some left in the pot," Cordelia said slowly, not quite sure how Kate would react to the powerful stimulant. As soon as Kate stood up, Cordelia snuck a glance at the door. It was not locked like she would do before going to bed. _Must be Luke who unlocked the door earlier_

Cordelia took another few gulps of her coffee, smiling as the hot liquid slid down her throat, warming her insides. It was a tad bit chilly in her house, not enough to warrant a jacket though. The coffee was more than enough to keep her warm, and Luke had lit a small fire in the fire place, just barely giving enough heat.

"Ahh...that hits the spot!" Kate said, smacking her lips as she set the empty pot back down. "Now where was I?" She tapped on her chin as she thought.

"Oh yeah! I'm here to invite you to my Christmas Eve's party today! So how about it, you wanna come?"

"Totally!" Luke spoke up. Turning to face Cordelia, a smile grew on his face as he asked, "So how about it? Can we go?"

"Of course we can go!" Cordelia said. "What time?"

"Eight o'clock, and don't be late!" Kate said as she left through the door.

"So Chris, you tried the coffee yet? It goes great with the muffins!" Luke said.

"Really? Well, if you say so..." Chris reached out for another muffin and took a bite from it. With another hand, he grabbed his mug and brought it to his lips. He took a small take of the light brown liquid, letting it dance across his tongue for a few moments before he swallowed it.

"Well, how do you like it?" Cordelia asked, eager to see what Chris thought of one of her favourite drinks. She took another sip from her near-empty mug as she waited for Chris to respond.

"Yeah, it really helps those that aren't morning people wake up quickly. Usually, one to two cups is good enough to get you going. And if you're wondering why Kate drank half a pot of coffee, well, I'm not very sure." Cordelia shook her head just as she heard the front door open again. Looking up, she immediately recognised Chris' other friends, Sam and Ellie. Before she could greet her new guests, Chris had already jumped out of his seat, making a beeline for his friends.

"Hey, you two!" Chris chipped. "Wait, hold on a sec...How'd you two find me here?" His gaze flicking between his two friends as he waited for either one to speak up.

"Oh, I read it in my sister's diar..." Ellie trailed off when Cordelia shot her a suspicious look. "Um, never mind..." Deftly changing the subject, she continued, "So, where have you been these past few days? Luke said something about you being in hospital!"

"Oh yeah, about that...I'm sorry I haven't been able to hang out lately. Things have just been..." He trailed off, hesitation creeping into his voice as he stared at the floor.

"Interesting." Cordelia finished Chris' sentence for her, watching as he nodded in agreement. Cordelia walked over to the three teenagers and asked, "So what do you guys have in minds for today? Another snowball fight?"

"Snowball fight!" Sam piped up, letting a large smile form on his face. "So what do you say, Chris?" Wanna come and build a snowman with us?" He looked up at Cordelia with a hopeful expression. "Oh, and can Luke come over too? It'd be real nice to have him to even out the teams for when we have another snowball fight!"

"Sure, I don't see why not!" Cordelia said. Looking over her shoulder, she raised her voice so Luke could hear her, and she asked, "Hey, Luke, Chris and the others want you to go play with them. You want to?"

"But what about my chores for today?" Came Luke's voice from around the corner.

"I think I can do them today," Cordelia called back, smiling as Luke poked his head out from the kitchen. "Besides, since you have been taking care of mine yesterday while I was at the hospital, it's only fair that I take care of yours today."

"Really? You sure?" Luke asked, fully emerging from behind the wall. "I mean, I can stick around for a mome-"

"Luke, I think I can handle it. Go and have fun, and stay warm alright? I don't want any of you getting sick for the holidays." She went to get two scarfs and wrapped it around them.

 

"Awesome! Come on, let's go build us a snowman thirty feet tall!" Sam turned around and scampered towards the door. Cordelia pulled it open and the four of them ran outside, already making plans for what they were going to do with the day.

"Luke, don't forget about the party later!" Cordelia quickly yelled at the closing door. She winced as it slammed shut a moment later, leaving her alone in the house.

Thinking about what to do for the day, she went up to her room to check her emails, which was surprisingly empty. She decided on reading a book on the couch to let time pass by.

\-----

The hours flew by as Cordelia quickly become lost in her book. No one disturbed her and all was quiet until someone knocked on the door.

"That's strange..." Cordelia murmured as she sat down her book and stood up to stretch. "I'm pretty sure I didn't lock the door just now..." She walked over to the door and pulled it open, instantly recognising her friend. "Hey, Josephine!" Smiling, she stepped back and pulled the door open all the way. "Come on in!"

"Hey Cordelia," Josephine said as Cordelia lead her to the couch. Cordelia proceeded to the kitchen to get two glasses of water and set it down on the coffee table.

Just as Cordelia was about to sit down, a few knocks came from the door, and it opened to reveal Cheryl carrying four suspicious-looking packages.

"Cheryl! Are those the...you know," Cordelia trailed off on purpose, not wanting to ruin the surprise for Josephine and walked up to the newcomer.

"Indeed they..." Cheryl too trailed off as she watched Josephine quickly stuff something in Cordelia's Christmas tree. Upon seeing her shush her with a hand help up to her lips, Cheryl continued on as if she'd seen nothing out of the ordinary. "Indeed they are."

"Thank you so much for getting these done with such short notice," Cordelia said as she pulled her friend into a brief hug. "How much do I owe you?" she asked while pulling away. She went to get some cash for Cheryl.

"Oh, for these little things?" Cheryl placed the presents on the floor next to the tree. "Don't worry about it Cordelia, and also..." She leaned in closer and lowered her voice so that Josephine couldn't hear her. "I made you a matching one as well."

Upon seeing Josephine squirm on the couch as if she had something to say, "Anyways, I left my scarf at home. If we're going to be outside for any measure of time tonight, I'd like to be reasonably warm, wouldn't you? If I remember correctly, this winter is particularly colder than the last one." She shivered as she glanced over her shoulder, looking out one of the front windows. Cordelia nodded silently in response.

Cheryl rubbed her hands together to give them at least a small modicum of warmth in preparation for the journey home. "Well, I best be going now. I'll see you two at Kate's party alright?" She gave Cordelia another quick hug before leaving. Leaving the two of them alone in the house.

"Hey, what didja get there Cordy?" Josephine asked, laying her arms over the arm of the couch. Taking a shot in the dark, she asked, "You, uh...didn't happen to get me a present, did ya?"

"Yeah, I did! Now that we're going to be taking care of Chris, I thought that I'd buy us all..." Cordelia trailed off, letting a smirk slide onto her face as Josephine's expression change to that of mild annoyance.

"What?" Josephine's voice rose in pitch as she got excited. "Come on, spill the beans already!"

"Nope! Not saying another word!" Cordelia made a left to right motion in front of her mouth using her hands, pretending that she had just zipped them shut.

"Ahhh, come on Cordelia," Josephine pouted and crossed her hands in front of her. "Can you give me just a little peek?"

"Nope! You and everyone else are going to have to wait until tomorrow morning." Cordelia said. She glanced at the clock and noticed that they were already running a few minutes late. "We really should get going, Josephine. We're running late as it is!" Cordelia went to get two scarfs from a closet and tossed one to Josephine. Wrapping her own tightly around her neck, she started walking towards the door. 

"Ugh, fine..." Josephine hopped off the couch and walked to the door.

"Anyways, I was thinking..."

"Yeah?"

"Should we tell the rest about what we're doing for Chris? I've already told Cheryl, and I don't think it will be fair if we don't tell the rest. Besides, I don't really like keeping secrets." Cordelia snuck a glance over at Josephine to see her reaction.

'Yeah, I don't see why not." Josephine responded after thinking for a few seconds. "If it's alright with you, I'd rather not make a huge deal out of it."

"That's fine with me, and I'm sure Chris would agree as well." The two of them rounded the corner to see the cafe completely covered in blinking lights and various decorations.

"Wow, Kate really outdid herself from last year..." Josephine said in awe, her eyes taking in the absurd scene.

"Heh, yeah, about that..." Cordelia trailed off with a giggle. "She drank several cups worth of coffee at my place today, so that's probably why."

Josephine whistled. "Yeah, that's probably it." They made their way up the steps and knocked on the door, standing side by side. As they waited for Kate to open the door, Josephine shifted ever so slightly to the left, gently pressing herself against Cordelia's side to try and keep warm. Before Cordelia could question her about it, the door opened and the two of them rushed in, desperate to get out of the cold.

"Hey! I'm so glad you two could make it!" Kate said as she lead them towards their friends on the other side of the room. They weaved through several people, greeting a couple familiar faces along the way.

As they neared their friends who were already having some drinks, Cordelia and Josephine joined in and started talking for the next one hour. which mainly consisted of reminiscing about the past year. 

"Hey, remember to drink slowly. Don't forget we still have to tell them what we're doing with Chris, I don't want you so plastered you can't speak straight, alright?" Cordelia whispered into Josephine's ear.

"Heh, you got it Cordelia," Josephine whispered back. She brought the glass back up to her lips and took a small sip, taking time to enjoy the special treat. She started to feel her cheeks flush with warmth from the alcoholic drink, and she felt the familiar warm and fuzzy feeling envelop her body.

After about another ten minutes, Vincent walked over to the group and cracked a smile, his gaze flicking back and forth between Josephine and Cordelia. He sat down next to Cheryl and whispered something into her ear. The two of them looked up and started laughing a moment later.

"Hey, what's so funny?" Josephine asked, her tone sounding a little defensive. "Why are you guys laughing at us?"

"You two are, umm..." Cheryl trailed off, nearly continuing her gleefulness.

"Look up, silly!" Kate exclaimed.

"Look...up?" Cordelia glanced up, her eyes widening as she noticed a piece of mistletoe hanging right above the both of them. Her cheeks flushed with embarrassment and she looked at Josephine, noticing that she too was blushing. "We...uh, we don't have to..." she stammered out, feeling her heart beat faster and faster.

"Yeah, you have to, It's the rules!" Kate stood up with a large smile.

Cordelia looked over at Josephine and saw that she wasn't backing away. Her heart was racing and she found herself short of breath as she looked into Josephine's eyes.

"Oh, come on, you two, it's just a kiss!" Cheryl said, egging her two friends on.

"Yeah, just a kiss, right?" Josephine asked, a hint of nervousness in her tone. She turned to face Cordelia a little better and licked her lips.

"I guess..." Cordelia trailed off as she cracked a nervous smile. She looked up into Josephine's eyes again and took a hesitant step forward, closing the distance between them. Before she could say anything else, Josephine leaned the rest of the way and planted her lips on Cordelia's.

At that moment, everything faded away as Cordelia felt Josephine's lips press up against hers. They were incredibly soft and warm, a little wet even. She closed her eyes and gently pushed back against Josephine, and before she knew it, the moment was over.

"Wow, that was really quite something, Josephine...." Cheryl said in surprise.

"Yeah, well, if you're going to do something, you gotta do it right," Josephine said, looking at the floor. She cracked a nervous smile and snuck a glance at Cordelia. Her heart was racing and as she looked at Cordelia, she couldn't help but feel something else, something that made her feel just a little bit closer to her. When Cordelia looked up into her eyes, she quickly looked away, desperately trying to think of something else to talk about.

"Yeah, it definitely was..." Cordelia agreed, feeling her heart thumping. That was her first time kissing anyone, and the feeling of someone's lips on hers was indescribable. Wanting to defuse the rather awkward situation, Cordelia shook her head and spoke up. "Anyways... Josephine and I have something important that we want to talk to you guys about, I'm not sure if you-"

"Wait!" Cheryl gasped, "Are you and Josephine together? Like, as a couple? Oh my gosh, I totally just made you two kiss!"

"What? Uh..." Josephine stammering nervously. "We-we aren't together!"

"You sure? You two would look _great_ together!"

"Cheryl, Josephine and I are not a couple," Cordelia said confidently. "Anyways, like I was saying, I'm not sure if you are aware of this or not, but Chris has lived with abusive parents his whole life, and I have, well, taken measures to ensure his safety. Josephine and I-"

"Wait, hold on a sec," Edilio said, cutting Cordelia off. "What do you mean you've taken measures to ensure his safety?"

"Well, since I placed Chris' parents under arrest, Josephine and I have taken it upon ourselves to take care of Chris. His parents are going to be put on trial pretty soon, and he is going to stay at my place for the time being."

Over the course of the next fifth-teen minutes, Cordelia and Josephine filled in the rest of the friends, answering all their questions. During the time, the party started dying down and everyone started leaving, thanking Cheryl for another fun time.

"So yeah, that about covers it," Cordelia said. She gave a small sigh of relief, happy that she was done.

"Darling, like I said the other day, I really think it is quite wonderful that you and Josephine are doing this for Chris. I'm sure that you two will do a splendid job taking care of him," Cheryl said

"Yeah, you said it," said Edilio.

"Hey, since it looks like things are wrapping up, why don't you guys come over to my place tomorrow to open presents?" Cordelia asked. "I'm sure everyone would love to get back together again."

"Sure, sounds good to me," Edilio said as he stood up to stretch. "I'll see you guys tomorrow, alright?" Edilio said as he walked out the door.

"You know, I think I'll do the same," Cheryl said as she stood up and gave Kate a small hug, thanking her for the party. She proceeded to walk out the front door into the cold, wintery night.

"So, uh, I guess I'll get going too, " Josephine said as she too stood up to stretch. She stepped forward to hug Cordelia goodbye, but held back as she remembered the kiss that they had shared in front of their friends earlier. Josephine didn't know why, but she felt her heart speed up as she thought about the kiss. Even though she had said it was just a kiss and nothing more, she couldn't help but feel the opposite.

"You sure?" Cordelia asked. Seeing Josephine nod in response, she said, "Here, I'll walk us out, and you can say goodnight to Chris, alright?" She stood up and waited for Josephine's response.

"Sounds good to me," Josephine said. She bit her lip as she thought about asking Cordelia what she thought about their kiss, but she decided against it, choosing to silently follow her instead. It only took them a few moments to cross the room.

"Hey..." Josephine said to Luke and Chris. "You two ready to go? Me and Cordelia are ready to head out."

"Aww, already?" Luke asked, his shoulders slumping in disappointment.

"Yeah, it's getting late as it is, and it's already way past your bed time," Cordelia said as she tightened her scarf.

Chris pulled his own scarf tighter as well and looked at Josephine, "Will I...will I see you tomorrow?" he asked hopefully.

"Of course, Chris," Josephine said, giving Chris' hair a playful tousle. "We'll spend the whole day together tomorrow!"

"Really? That's gonna be so fun!"

"Yeah, but first you two need to go to bed!" Cordelia said, pushing the two of them towards the door with her hand. "Besides, if you two aren't in bed soon, Santa Clause might skip our house! We wouldn't want that now, would we?"


	9. Insecurities

Chapter 9

Josephine was lying on her empty bed, trying her hardest to fall asleep. She had gotten home a couple of hours ago and had gone straight to bed, exhausted from the long day.

_Besides, if you two aren't in bed soon, Santa Clause might skip our house!_ Cordelia's words echoed in Josephine's mind over and over. Josephine had noticed the look of confusing on Chris' face when Cordelia mention Santa Clause's name, but she had assumed it was nothing. As they were leaving the party, though, Cordelia had pulled her aside and told her that she suspected Chris' parents never gave him presents for Christmas. Just the thought of Chris not getting to experience the same wonders and joys that she'd felt as a child made her feel sick to her stomach.

She had been about Chris' age when her parents told her that Santa Clause wasn't real, and it had really messed with her. She eventually got over it, like all children do, but the initial shock from finding that something that she had believed in for years wasn't real was jarring, to say the least.

If she could let Chris experience the same joy that she had in the past, even a teensy tiny smidgen, it would be worth it. That thought gave her a small amount of comfort, letting her twisting stomach rest a little. She hoped that Chris would love his new scooter, she'd bought the most expensive model the story carried.

Now, she was snuggling with her favourite pillow again, teh sheets pulled in tight around her. Feeling a bit uncomfortable, Josephine pushed the pillow into a different position and rolled over onto her side, letting a small groan of frustration escape her.

Ever since she had accidentally singled with Cordelia the other night, her favourite pillow just couldn't measure up to her expectations anymore. Before, it had worked just fine in helping her fall asleep, but it quickly lost its charm once she had experience the bliss of sleeping with a warm body instead of a cold, lumpy pillow.

A few more minutes passed in silence as she mulled over the events from earlier. She tried to let her mind go blank, but it was all for naught. The kiss that she’d shared with Cordelia kept playing over and over in her mind, keeping her adrenaline pumping as if she was about to lean in for another kiss.

_Come on, Josephine! It was just a kiss, and nothing more than that..._ Josephine thought, pulling the sheets tighter around her legs. _...R-right?_ Her legs were a little cold so she rubbed them back and forth, trying to create enough friction to warm them.

"Ugh!" Josephine sat up and chucked her pillow across the room. “Come on! Why can’t I fall asleep?” She flopped back down onto the bed. Several more minutes passed in silence. Josephine took a deep breath and sighed. She rolled back onto her side and made herself comfortable with another pillow, not even bothering to retrieve her favourite one from its position near the door. She closed her eyes and pulled the sheets back up with a hand. As the sheets started to warm her, her bedroom widow suddenly burst open, quickly filling her room with a freezing chill.

Rolling her eyes in frustration, Josephine threw the sheets off her and walked up to the window. She slammed it shut and locked it, making sure that it wouldn’t open on its own again by placing a couple of nearby books on the windowsill.

Just as she was about to turn and go back to bed, something caught her eye. Peering through the window, she was just able to make out Cordelia's house down the street. The downstairs lights were still on, showing that Cordelia was still awake.

Josephine sighed again. She crossed her hands on the windowsill and sat down, laying her head on her folded arms. As she listened to the wind howl outside, she felt a pang of loneliness hit her, right in the gut. This feeling was nothing new to her. In fact, it was starting to become as familiar to her as any one of her friends, a fact that she resented with all her being.

She lifted her head and looked down the hallway. It was as neat and tidy as always, mainly because she didn’t make any messes to clean up. Most would love a clean house, but she didn’t like it at all. What she really wanted was to have the mess of a real and functioning home, like her parents’ one. The mess of her old home had, well, made it feel more homey, more welcoming, something that her own house lacked. She glanced about her room, hoping to feel just a teensy bit of that old sense, but nothing came. With another small groan, she turned and laid her head back on her hands, staring right at the house.

Spending Christmas night by herself last year had nearly left her in tears. Just the feeling of being utterly alone and unloved by a special someone had really pushed her to the edge, and it had taken all of her strength not to break down. Even now, she felt that same feeling of loneliness start to creep back into her mind and she felt her throat seize up. She took a couple deep breaths and tried to keep those thoughts at bay, but they just kept coming back.

_I...I wonder if Cordelia would let me stay at her place tonight..._ Josephine suddenly thought and her heart sped up. She giggled as she felt a sense of giddiness sweep through her. _What if she lets me...snuggle with her again? As friends?_

"Nah...she wouldn't..." Josephine murmured, already starting to doubt herself. "Would she?" She glanced to the side as another menacing thought slipped into her mind. "But what if she says...no? What if my asking would hurt our friendship? What if she wouldn't want to be friends anymore?" She punched the wall in frustration. "Ugh...I don't know what to do anymore..."

Just then, something in the corner of her eye caught her attention. She looked up and out of the window, spotting a lone snowflake drifting in the wind. Closer and closer it came to her house, floating through the clear night sky. As she watched it, it landed flat against her window, sticking in place.

Josephine chuckled and laid her head back on her arms. _Heh, what are the chances of tha… Hold on…_ Josephine couldn’t believe her eyes. She rubbed them with her hands and opened them again, hoping that what she was seeing wasn’t just a figment of her imagination.

The snowflake was centred right on top of Cordelia's house. “Is this… is this a sign?” Josephine asked hopefully, staring right at the snowflake. As if to answer her question, a gust of wind caught the snowflake in its grasp and tugged it from the window, blowing it towards the house.

Josephine didn’t care if it was a sign or not; that snowflake was all the reason she needed to go to Cordelia's. Why spend Christmas morning in misery? With a grin, Josephine went downstairs and out the front door, grabbing a scarf on the way out. Like her father always used to say, there is no time like the present. Keeping those words firmly lodged in her mind, Josephine started the journey to Cordelia's house.

Reaching Cordelia's house after a ten minute walk, she looked through one of the windows and spotted Cordelia sitting at her sofa, sipping from a mug of something steaming.

Josephine walked forward through the snow and approached the front door. She raised her hand to knock, but something in her mind told her to stop. _What if she thinks I’m weird for coming by so late?_ She put her hand back down on the ground and bit her lip as she thought. _What if our kiss made things awkward between us? I don’t want to lose Cordelia as a friend…_ That thought alone almost made her walk back home, but the sole fact that she didn’t want to wake up alone on Christmas Day kept her rooted in place.

“Ugh!” Josephine groaned as she turned around. She started poking the snow as her thoughts ran rampant in her mind. _Nothing ventured, nothing gained, right?_ Josephine bit her lip and looked back over her shoulder through the window. She shuddered as a particularly cold breeze hit her and she looked away, letting her gaze drop as her insecurities plagued her mind once more. She couldn’t help but feel a sense of helplessness fill her, and tears began to well up in her eyes.

Minutes passed in an agonising silence as Josephine tried to decide what to do. She contemplated just going back to her house, but that thought was quickly purged from her mind when she heard the door click open behind her, shocking her back to reality.

“Jo… Josephine?” Josephine heard Cordelia ask, her voice tinted with a small amount of concern. “What are you, um… What are you doing out here?”

Josephine turned around and looked up, not even bothering to wipe the tears from her eyes. “I… I…” she stammered, at a complete loss for words. Before she could try and explain her presence, Cordelia swept forward, pulling her to her legs. 

“Come on, you,” Cordelia said softly as she led Josephine inside. “Let’s talk.” Needless to say, finding one of her friends in tears outside her house was unsettling, and she was determined, as a good friend, to get to the bottom of things. Silently, she led Josephine to her couch and sat beside each other. She went to get her mug of hot cocoa from her desk. She gently brought it into Josephine's hands, only releasing it when she had a firm grasp and went back to the spot beside Josephine.

“So…” Cordelia started, keeping her voice soft for fear of waking the other two sleeping upstairs. “What’s up?”

Josephine stayed silent for a few seconds, wondering if she should tell Cordelia about her crippling feelings. “I… I don’t know if I should say…”

"Well… that’s fine, I guess.” Cordelia went to get a blanket from the nearby closet and and draped it over the two of them and continued. “You don’t have to tell me if you don’t want to, but I promise you’ll feel better if you do…”

Josephine took a couple moments to collect her thoughts. “Alright. I… I don’t know how else to say this, so I’m just gonna say it. These past several months, I’ve been feeling… empty,” Josephine choked out, rubbing her eyes with a hand. She raised the mug to her lips with a shaky hand and tentatively took a small sip. “I haven’t slept well in ages, except for when…”

“When what?”

“When we… when we slept together at the hospital.” Josephine gave a small, nervous chuckle. “I’d trade anything for another solid night of sleep like that…”  
“Well…” Cordelia trailed off as she started thinking. Biting her lip, she looked down and inspected the floor. Several moments passed in silence before she spoke up again. “You… you don’t snore… right?”

“Huh?” That caught Josephine completely off guard. “No, I don’t– I don’t think so… Why do you ask?” She felt her heart beat faster as her hopes for snuggling rose ever so slightly. _There’s no way that she’s gonna ask me to snuggle with her… is she?_ Josephine looked up at Cordelia, breathlessly waiting for her to respond. She bit her lower lip as the seconds passed in a tense silence.

Cordelia pulled the blanket up to her shoulders and let off a soft sigh, she said, “I… I’d be a liar if I said that I didn’t like snuggling back at the hospital as well.” She giggled when she saw Josephine's eyes widen a little. “But this would be just as friends, right?”

“Ye– Yeah!” Josephine said, a large smile spreading onto her face. Trying to keep her emotions in check, she tried to play if off a little smoother. “I mean, yeah, just as friends.”

“heh, alright then,” Cordelia said, sliding off of the couch. “Let’s get to bed then; it’s getting late, and I don’t want to be half-asleep tomorrow morning.” Watching Josephine hop off the couch, she let out a small yawn. “Oh wait, we still have to set out the presents!” She walked over to the closet and pulled the presents that Cheryl had brought by and pulled them out. She brought them under the tree and arranged them in a neat little pile and Chris' present arranged off to the side.

Cordelia took a deep breath and stepped back, admiring her work. Everything was arranged exactly the way she wanted them to be. Upon hearing a yawn come from behind her, she asked, “Alright, ready to head upstairs?”

“Yeah, sure…” Josephine said, trying to fight back another yawn. “Sounds good to me…” She quietly followed Cordelia upstairs and into her bedroom, taking care to not make much noise. Chris was fast asleep in the bed on the left, his small chest rising and falling ever so gently with each breath he took. Josephine smiled, knowing that the child was going to have a blast tomorrow.

Josephine was broken from her thoughts when she heard Cordelia pull the sheets back. After shooting one last glance over at Chris, Josephine hopped on Cordelia's bed and settled down.

Josephine was just about to open her mouth and ask how they should do this when Cordelia started leaning over. Her heart started beating faster and she blushed, thinking that Cordelia was leaning in for a kiss. But instead of going for her lips, Cordelia went further, up to her ear.

“So, um… you want to be the big spoon, or the little spoon?” Cordelia whispered, pulling the sheets over them with her hands. She fluffed a couple of pillows and laid them down beside each other, one for each of them.

“The– the what?” Josephine whispered back, confused.

Cordelia rolled her eyes and smiled. “Do you want me to hold you, or do you want to hold me?” she asked. “I don’t mind either way.”

“Oh… Oh! Um, hehe, I’d like to…” Josephine trailed off nervously, letting her nerves get the best of her.

“Sorry, I didn’t catch that.”

“I want to… I want to hold you…” Josephine whispered back, giving her an unintentional nuzzle as their cheeks rubbed together from their close proximity. She felt her cheeks flush in embarrassment. Her breaths shortened and she bit her lower lip, praying that Cordelia wouldn’t interpret that as getting a little too personal.

“Al… alright,” Cordelia said, laying down on her side. She yawned again and slid back a few inches.

Josephine let out a soft sigh of relief and relaxed. She pulled the sheets up past her shoulders and smiled as she slid closer to Cordelia. _Just as friends, eh? Well, I sure can get used to this…_ Josephine thought as she slid the rest of the way up against Cordelia's back. She gingerly wrapped a hand around Cordelia's midsection, right under her arms. Angling her hips to press up against her friend’s lower back.

Taking a deep breath, Josephine finally let her muscles relax as she laid her head on one of the pillows. She pulled Cordelia a little closer to her and scooted up just a little bit, just enough for her friend’s head to clear her chin. Feeling Cordelia's head slip into the crook of her neck, Josephine let off a small, happy hum of content.

A couple of moments passed in silence. When Cordelia's breathing started to slow down, Josephine smiled and whispered, “Comfortable, Cordy?”

“Mhm…” Cordelia mumbled back. “Very much so…” She snuggled a little deeper into Josephine's embrace and latched onto her hand with one of her own. A few minutes passed as she quietly enjoyed being held by someone, and just as she was slipping into the realm of dreams, she whispered, “Oh, and Merry Christmas, Josephine…”


	10. Simple comforts

Chapter 10

Chris stirred awake, the harsh silence of the room a welcome contrast to his parents' constant fighting and yelling. Sincerely grateful for the comfort, he rolled over onto his side and started to smile when he noticed something rather important.

Josephine's quilt was missing.

"What the..." he whispered as he sat up. Chris felt around the bed and looked over both sides. When he saw nothing, he leaned over each side and waved his hand around, trying to find the missing quilt.

"Humph...nothing..." As the frigid air quickly sapped away any heat he had left, he started shivering, hand and legs feeling so cold that they felt like they were going to fall off. He had no idea why, but Cordelia's bedroom was absolutely freezing, just like last night.

His head constantly on a swivel, he finally found the quilt crumpled up in a heap at the other end of the bed. With a roll of his eyes, Chris snatched the sheets and yanked them back up, tugging them up around his shoulders. He wrapped the rather large quilt as tightly as he could around his neck and rubbed his hands together, trying to warm himself up.

Still feeling a bit like an ice cube, he knew he had to do something else: this just wasn't cutting it. He tossed the quilt of him and stood up, wincing slightly as the cold bit him once more. He spread the quilt out flat and then laid down directly in the center, leaving his neck and head exposed. Using his hand, he grabbed the left side of the quilt and tossed it over. He pulled it tight against his back and used his legs too pull the excess length closer. He rolled over and lied down, forming a tight seal between his body and the cold.

As the sheets finally started to warm him, he fluffed the pillow and rolled over. With a sigh, Chris closed his eyes and lay still for a couple of minutes, trying to fall back asleep. Just as he found a comfortable position, he felt a small nagging urge to drink something. He tried to ignore it but the longer he laid there, the worse it got. After a few minutes, Chris groaned and gave up. Now, both his throat and mouth were both dry, cursed by the cold air. He rolled over and sat up, keeping the blanket pulled tightly around his shoulders.

He looked around the room, barely registering that Cordelia's bed had not one, but two lumps under the covers. In his sleepy state, Chris thought nothing of it and let the quilt fall away as he quietly hopped out of the bed. Thankfully, the bathroom was only a few footsteps away, so Chris quietly walked inside, being extra careful to not wake Cordelia up.

Determined to not wake Cordelia up, he placed his hands on the bathroom door and gave a gentle push, wincing as the latch clicked shut loudly. Chris held his breath and waited for a few moments, listening as hard as he could. Thankfully, he heard nothing signalling that he'd woke Cordelia up, and he gave a sigh of relief.

Turning around, he looked up and much to his dismay, the sink was far too high for him to reach on his own. Chris groaned, wincing slightly as his dry throat begged for water. Seeing no obvious way to reach the sink, he stood there and rubbed his chin as he thought of ways to sate his thirst. Looking around in the dark, he finally took notice of a small stool sitting in the corner. He walked over to it, grabbed it in his hands, and placed it in-front of the sink.

Chris hopped on it and stuck his mouth underneath the faucet. He fumbled with the know and smiled when he finally turned it on. Once he'd stated his thirst, he turned the water off and gingerly opened the bathroom door, opening it just enough for him to slip through.

Creeping back towards the bed, he took one last glance at Cordelia, smiling as he thought of everything she'd done for him the past few days. Just as he was about to hop back up on his own bed, the moon broke through the cloud cover for just a brief second, lighting up a turf of familiar blue hair.

_Wait...Josephine went home after the party. That's not her...is it?"_

His interest piqued, Chris walked over to Cordelia's bed and clambered on, trying not to disturb the two people. Wanting to be sure, she waited for the boon to break through the clouds again, it was much too dark without it light to be sure of anything.

Several moments passed in silence as he waited breathlessly. Suddenly, the room brightened to reveal the familiar face of Josephine snuggling with Cordelia.

_It is her!_ Chris thought as his face lit up with glee but a blast of cold air suddenly washed over him. Biting his lower lip, he started wondering how nice it would be if he could sleep snuggled in between Josephine and Cordelia. He fidgeted in place, caught in between the desire to sleep in between them and the fear of awakening and angering her.

Deciding against the former, he settled down near Josephine and grabbed the other end of the blanket, tossing what little he could over him. He kept tugging at it, trying to get as much of the blanket as he could, which really didn't work out to be that much. With a small 'humph', Chris curled up and wish he'd brought his pillow from his bed. His hand would just have to do in the meantime.

Still shivering a bit, he tried to find a better position when his leg slipped and accidentally hit one of Josephine's legs. As she began to stir awake, Chris froze in place, hoping that she'd just go back to sleep. Seconds passed in a tense silence as he watched Josephine shift under the sheets, and gulped loudly when he saw her head begin to rise.

"He- hey, Josephine," Chris whispered, breaking the silence in a timid voice. He sat up, letting his shoulders slump. "I'm sorry i woke you up..., and-"

"Shhh...come here, it's all right..." Josephine whispered in a horse voice. Josephine pulled the sheets back just a little and slid away from Cordelia, giving Chris just enough room to sleep with them.

With a relieved smile, Chris crept around Josephine and slid under the covers next to her. Letting loose a yawn, he was about to settle down and go back to sleep when he heard a tired groan come from behind him.

Her back feeling rather cold, Cordelia rolled over, smiling gently as she noticed Chris lying between them. "Oh...hey there..." she said softly, rubbing Chris' back with a hand. "Someone having nightmares again?" She noticed Josephine's look of concern and gave a her a small shake of her head, wordlessly saying this wasn't the time for questions.

"N-no..." Chris murmured. "It's a little cold in my bed, and I was wondering if Josephine could...um...hold me?" He glanced up at Josephine. "You know, like the other night?" Chris asked nervously, silently she'd say yes.

"Heh, sure thing..." Josephine said. 

"Oh, thank you so much!" Chris exclaimed as he stretched himself and snuggled up against Josephine. Smiling, Chris closed his eyes and his breathing slowed down.

"Josephine, you're the best sister anyone could ask for..." Chris murmured. "Oh...and you too, Cordelia..." Falling asleep minutes after, a small smile tugging at his lips. Soon, his snore permeated the room, eliciting a soft giggle from Cordelia.

"What?" Josephine asked, tugging the blanket over her shoulders again.

"Oh, it's nothing really," Cordelia whispered back. "It's just...well, that was really adorable."

"What? Nah..." Josephine blushed, cheeks warming up from embarrassment. Her eyes flicked up to meet Cordelia's, "...Really?" 

Cordelia giggled again and nodded, "So...what's up with the hugging thing?"

"Oh yeah, that." Josephine shrugged. "Well, the night I found him out in the snow, Chris confessed that he always wanted his mom to hold him like that when he was little, so...yeah." She yawned and gave the blanket another tug. "I always loved when my mom hugged me also, so I thought I'd...you know..."

Josephine felt her cheeks warm up as she blushed (again), so she looked away from Cordelia's gaze as she asked, "Oh, and Cordy? I- I wouldn't be able to help Chris without you, so I just wanna say...thanks, thanks for everything." She slid up a bit, gently pulling Chris into a better position.

Cordelia moved a little closer to Josephine. "You know... I want to help Chris as much as you, and you're right. He deserved better, and..." Cordelia bit her lip as she contemplated whether or not to speak what was on her mind. She really wanted to say how much she admired what Josephine had committed herself to do. Promising to take case of a child was no small matter, and there was one thing that kept nagging at her mind.

In the few hours before Kate's party, she'd read up on some case studies on families that had adopted children and how the adoptee had adapted to their new life. In those, she learned that in order for the child to grow up as normally as possible, it was imperative to provide as stable a life or them as possible.

With their current situation, Chris would live in both of their houses, moving back and forth in the middle of each week. Knowing this would make Chris' life unnecessarily tougher, Cordelia had logically come to the conclusion that Chris had to only live at one of their houses. Since Josephine stays at the outskirt of the town, it is more logical for Chris to stay with Cordelia.

With that fact in mind, Cordelia remained silent, looking anywhere but Josephine's curious gaze. She had no idea why, but her heart was beating just a little faster than usual. The kiss that they shared was still lodged firmly in her mind, and her asking Josephine to live in her place would make things a little awkward, to say the least.

"And...what?" Josephine asked, looking back up to meet Cordelia's gaze. She laid her head down on the pillow and pushed it into a more comfortable position.

"And..." _Now is not the time to talk about such things...I'll bring it up with hear later, in private..._ "And I think we should get some sleep. If the past few years have been any indication, Luke's gonna wake us up _really_ early to open presents..."


	11. Christmas Morning

Chapter 11

"Psst...Cordelia, wake up!"

Cordelia groaned tiredly, shifting about the covers. She felt amazingly warm and soft, and she wanted nothing more than to fall back asleep. However, the insistent poking and what she assumed was Luke's finger refused to allow her to do just that.

With another soft groan, Cordelia cracked her eyes open and blinked a few times, smiling when her gaze focused on Josephine and Chris. Suddenly, something poked her lower back, right where she was most ticklish. Bolting upright, she looked over her shoulders and glared at Luke, who was gleefully hopping up and down at the side of the bed.

"Hey Cordelia, since you're-" Luke said before Cordelia cut him off.

"Shh!" Cordelia brought up a hand to her lips, trying to shush the loud boy. "Josephine and Chris are still..." she trailed off when she felt the bed move from someone else moving. Her shoulders slumping, she turned around to see Josephine stretching.. "Well, they were sleeping..." Cordelia said in annoyance.

Pushing a few strands of hair out of her face, Cordelia asked, "Ugh...what time is it?" Her internal clock told her it was still pretty early in the morning, much too early to be getting up. Wanting to be sure, though, she looked out her window and saw the very tip top of the sun starting to rise over the horizon. Well, at least Luke waited for the sun to rise this time...

Lying back down, Cordelia said, "Tell you what, go light a fire downstairs and we'll be down in ten minutes or so, okay?"

"Got it, Cordelia!" Luke said, bolting out of the room.

Once he was gone, Cordelia rolled over to face Chris and Josephine again. "Hey guys...Luke has apparently decided that it's time to open presents, you two sleepyheads okay with that?"

"Yeah, that's fine Cordy," Josephine mumbles sleepily, her eyes still closed. She scooted a bit closer to Cordelia, smiling as she enjoyed the blissful warmth of her friend. Tilting her head to rest it against Cordelia's, she let loose a soft sigh as she ruffled Chris' hair. "Ya know, I really wouldn't mind spending the rest of the day like this..."

"Oh, I'm sure. But how can you open your presents if you sleep all day..." Cordelia whispered back.

"...Fair point." Sitting up, Josephine released her grip on Chris. "Come on, time to get up and see what Santa Clause bought for ya..."

Chris' lips curled up ever so slightly for just a brief moment before they dropped back down again, and he rolled over onto his side, resting his head against Cordelia's arm.

Josephine caught Cordelia's eye and smiled. "I think he's playing with us," she said as softly as she could. With a sly grin, Josephine brought a hand up to her lips and whispered, "Play along..."

She laid her head back down and held a hand to Chris' stomach. Upon getting no reaction, Josephine started to tickle his stomach. Anticipating the response, she yanked her hand away just in time to avoid Chris' hand as he tried to swat it away.

Grumbling quietly, Chris rolled over again and lay against Josephine, head lying in the crook of Josephine's shoulder. This time, he couldn't quite hide his smile, so he tried to cover it with a hand.

When Chris settled down again, Josephine felt him smile, confirming that Chris was just messing with them. With a grin, she looked back at Cordelia and whispered, "He's faking it."

Still smiling, Josephine nodded at Cordelia, silently saying it was her turn. Cordelia nodded back and extended one of her hands. She ran it across his back, stifling a giggle when he rolled over again.

Josephine brushed some of Chris' errant hair out of his face. "Come on, time to get up..."she said softly, continuing in a singsong voice as she sat up. "You know, there are presents for you..."

Chris finally opened his eyes and looked around. Letting loose a soft yawn, he stretched and laid back down, tugging the blanket back up and murmured, "But I don't wanna get up..." Before he could say anything more, Josephine started tickling him again.

Chris started giggling and tried to push Josephine's hand away with a hand, but she was too strong. "Hahaha, come on, Josephine, stop-"

Josephine was unrelenting as she tickled Chris, and just as Cordelia was about to join in, they heard Luke yell from downstairs. "Hey, you guys coming or what? These presents aren't going to open themselves, you know!"

"Be there in a minute!" Cordelia yelled back. Lying her head back down, she softly said, "Come on, you two..." She pulled the blanket off them. "I don't think Luke is going to wait any longer." She slid out off the bed and walked to the door, waiting for Chris and Josephine to join her.

"Come on, Chris, maybe Santa Clause brought you something fast and cool..." Josephine said as she sat up. Now fully awake, she couldn't help but feel giddy, excited to see how Chris would like his present.

After stretching himself, Chris followed Josephine off the bed. "Alright...but can we make some hot chocolate?" Chris looked up at Josephine as they walked side by side, following Cordelia out of the bedroom and down the stairs.

"Heh, sure we can!" Josephine said, turning to Cordelia, she asked, "Hey, you got any hot chocolate mix?"

"Yep! Just make sure you make enough for everyone, okay?" Cordelia asked. using a hand to point Chris over to the presents under the tree. "The mix is on the top shelf of the cabinet on the left!" she called out.

"Got it!" Josephine yelled back.

"Let's see..." Cordelia pulled out the presents from under the tree. "This one is for me..." She laid the scarf that Cheryl made for her in her hands. "This one is for you, Chris..."

"Santa Clause got this for me?" Chris asked, wide eyes. He was smiling widely.

"Yep!" Luke said. "He brings presents to everyone who was on good behaviour this year!" He said as he held up his present and shook it, trying to figure out what is inside.

And just like that, Chris' excitement disappeared, only to be replaced by an overwhelming sense of sadness. "Then...why didn't he bring me and presents in the past several years?" he asked, his shoulders slumped a little. "I was a good boy...or, I tried to be at least..."

Luke felt a knot of guilt from his stomach, and he opened his mouth to try and make Chris feel better, but Cordelia shot him a stern look, a look he knew all too well. He kept quiet and nodded once, showing he understood to keep quiet.

"Sweetie..." Cordelia started as she slid closer to Chris. She settled down beside the trembling child, her mind scrambling to come up with an answer. "Umm...He, uh..." For the first time in her life, she was at a loss of words. As the tense silence carried on, Cordelia started stammering, struggling to come up with something, anything. Thankfully, Josephine walked back into the living room with a tray of four steaming mugs in her hands.

"You know..." Josephine said, picking up from where Cordelia had left off. "I talked to Santa Clause earlier, and he...ummm... he told me that since he could not find your parents’ house on the outskirt of the town for the past few years, he decided to give you one huge present this year to make it up to you!"

Josephine grinned nervously and chuckled, hoping that Chris wouldn't see through her little white lie. She'd rather lie to Chris than have to explain that his parents never loved him enough to buy presents on Christmas Day.

"So, who's up for some hot chocolate? I know I am!" Josephine said as carefully as she set the tray of mugs down on the table. She grabbed a cup and passed it to Chris, who gratefully accepted it. Cordelia and Luke grabbed their drinks, and Cordelia slid the tray off to the side.

After Chris took a sip, Josephine sat down next to him and said, "So yeah, I made sure he got something really nice for you this year!"

Chris perked up a little bit. "Really?" He lifted up his head.

"Yep!" Josephine said, pointing towards the biggest box sitting under the tree. "And it's that big one right there!"

"Oh my gosh, please tell me this isn't some sort of prank." Chris got up and ran over to the present. "Is this really for me?"

"Yeah, go on, open it!" Josephine said as she walked next to him. As the sound of paper tearing filled the room, she couldn't help but sneak a glance at Cordelia, sharing a small smile with her. Feeling her cheeks warm up ever so slightly, she looked back just in time to see Chris' face break out in the biggest smile she'd ever seen.

"Santa Clause got me a new scooter?!" Chris said, his voice full of unbridled excitement. He was jumping in place, barely being able to contain his excitement.

"Oh, I almost forgot!" Cordelia said as she went to pull out a small present from under a tree. "Santa dropped this off at my place for you!" She laid it in front of her, smiling as the exuberant boy ripped the wrapping paper off it, revealing a brand new helmet.

Cordelia and Luke shared a knowing glance. The moment Cordelia had returned home from wrapping Chris' present, she and Luke had gone out to the perfect helmet place to replace Chris' old one. This one was in a bright red colour and was shaped just like his old one. To Cordelia's relief, they reached the store just before closing time, and the clerk had been nice enough to help them figure out what size to get for Chris.

“A new helmet, too! This day just keeps getting better and better!” Chris said as he pulled the helmet out of its packaging. He tried it on and buckled the straps, adjusting it until it fit just right. After undoing the buckle, he laid it back down and moved over to where Josephine stood.

Chris wrapped his hands around her, hugging her tightly. “Thank you so much for letting Santa Clause know where I'd be! This is just so awesome!” Pulling his head back, he asked, “Hey, do you want to watch me do some cool tricks on it?” He let go and went over to where his new scooter lay.

"Sure, but only if you promise to race me later!"

"Now hold on, you two!" Cordelia said a smile. "We haven't even opened all the presents yet!"

"There's more?" Chris said as his head whipped towards Cordelia.

"Yep! Santa Clause brought us all something perfect for the winter!" Cordelia placed the wrapped scarves on the table in front of them. Nobody wasted anything time as they tore the wrapping paper to reveal scarves made specifically for them. While Cordelia's and Josephine's had their respective hair colours on the scarf, Luke's had a claw sewn on his and Chris' had a red helmet on the end.

Pulling it out of the packaging, Josephine wrapped the scarf around her neck and smiled as the overly soft silk caressed her skin. It wasn't overly thick, yet it wasn't too skinny either. Closing her eyes, she tightened the scarf around her neck, sighing contentedly as it started to warm up. Wow, this is almost as soft as Cordelia-

Josephine's eyes snapped open in shock. Where did that thought come from? She snuck a glance over at Cordelia, feeling her cheeks heat up. As she watched, she couldn't help but let a small smile slip onto her face as she saw her give an affectionate hug to Luke. After Cordelia said something that she couldn't hear, Josephine suddenly felt Chris pull her hand, smiling like the happiest kid in the world.

"Hey, can I go out and try my new scooter now?" Chris asked as he pulled his new toy out of its packaging. His helmet already on, he placed a hand on his new scooter, ready to test it outside.

Since everyone opened their presents, Cordelia nodded and said, "Sure! Just be careful, alright?" As soon as the words left her mouth, Chris raced outside, pushing himself alone on the scooter, followed closely by Luke. Cordelia followed the two of them outside and sat down on the doorstep, keeping a close eye on them.

"Hey, there's still one more present, Cordelia..." Cordelia heard just before Josephine nudge her with a hand. She turned around and saw a long narrow package in her hands.

"Aww, you didn't have to get me anything, Josephine!" Cordelia said, picking up the present with her hand.

"Eh, I kinda wanted to, especially after you helped me get Chris out of that awful house." Josephine said as she sat down next to Cordelia, watching in breathless excitement as Cordelia gently tore off the wrapping paper.

A small crimson-coloured box revealed, Cordelia took the lid off the box to reveal a fountain pen that was solid black and had a diamond at the top, enclosed in a transparent dome. It was very elegant, certainly more than the countless regular ones she normal used. In comparison, a pen such as this would only be used by those with rather large sums of money.

"Josephine..." Cordelia trailed off, once again finding herself at a loss of words. Conflicted thoughts ran through her, but that was most prevalent was, how was Josephine able to afford something like this, especially with her job as a teacher? And why buy something so nice just for her?

"Yeah, Cordy? You like it? You have no idea how hard it was to find a pen just like th-"

"I- I can't accept this, Josephine..." Cordelia said, casting her gaze aside. She bit her lip, worried that Josephine would take it the wrong way. Even though it had to have cost Josephine at least a month's worth of her pay just to buy it, and because of that, she couldn't accept it.

"Wh...why not?" Josephine's smile suddenly flattered. Her enthusiasm lost, she said, "You don't like the colour, don't-"

"No, Josephine, it's not that at all. I love it, I really do, but..." Cordelia cut her friend off. "I can't accept such an expensive gift. I just doesn't feel right, especially when I gave you a scarf." She put the lid of the box back on and tied the piece of ribbon back around it.. Laying it next to Josephine, she looked back up into her friend's eyes again, feeling bad for rejecting a gift from one of her closest friends. "You being here is more than enough, Josephine..."

“Heh, if I didn’t know any better, it sounds like you’re falling for me,” Josephine joked, giving Cordelia playful nudge on the shoulder with her hand, missing the blush that followed her quip. “Besides, if you really want to know why I bought somethin’ nice for ya, it’s because I can. I got a really good raise at work last month, and I’m haulin’ in the money. Besides, how do you think I’m able to pay for a really big house?”

“That’s… actually a good point,” Cordelia said, eyeing the box laying between them.

Josephine picked up the box again with a hand and held it out to her. “Come on, please? I want you to have it,” she said. “Besides, I can’t have my best friend write her reports with some normal pen!”

Cordelia looked down at the box and back up at Josephine, biting her lip. “You… you sure you can afford it?” she asked hesitantly. She’d be lying if she said she didn’t want the pen, but not if it bankrupted her best friend.

“Yes, Cordelia!” Josephine rolled her eyes and flashed her usual cocky smile. She offered the box again, patiently waiting for her to take it.

“Well… Okay then!” Cordelia said giddily. She picked it up with her hand and opened the box again. Pulling the pen out of the packaging as carefully as she could, she held it up, marvelling at its beauty. She was just about to thank Josephine when she suddenly dove in front of her, a snowball hitting her back a moment later with a loud ‘gish’ sound.

Quickly putting her new pen inside the house, Cordelia took the chance to get back at Rainbow for her little quip. She stepped close to her and lowered her voice. “Josephine… no one's ever taken a snowball for me…” Cordelia let her eyelids droop as she leaned in, and she smiled inwardly as she saw Josephine's eyes widen in shock. 

Just before their lips could meet in a kiss, another snowball hit her back again. “And now you’ve taken two!” Cordelia giggled as she ran past the stunned girl.

Josephine took a second to process what had just happened. She looked over her shoulder and chuckled. “Hey, no one hits Josephine with a snowball and gets away with it!” Josephine took chase and found Chris engaged in a snowball fight with Cordelia and Luke, so she quickly ran behind the pile of snow that Chris was apparently using as a fort.

“Hey Chris, what’s the situation?” Josephine asked in a mock military voice as she took cover behind the small pile of snow, a barrage of thrown snowballs soaring just over her head.

“We’ve got two enemy contacts directly ahead!” Chris yelled back as he launched a couple snowballs at the opposing fort, only for them to hit the opposing fort. He reached down for more, but his hand grabbed at thin air. He looked down in confusion; he was sure that he’d made more.

“Get down, Chris!” Josephine yanked Chris down and gave him a snowball. Still taking cover behind the wall of snow, 

Josephine said, “Alright, here’s the plan: you and I are gonna crush those two!” she exclaimed with a cocky smile.

“You got it!” Chris started to stand up to throw the snowball, but Josephine pulled him down just in time to avoid another barrage of snowballs.

“Heh, that was just a joke; I really do have a plan. So we’re gonna–”

“Wait, so we’re not gonna crush the enemy?” Chris asked as he cocked an eyebrow, confusion apparent in his tone. “I thought you were on my side!” He let a sly smile slip onto his face as he raised his snowball in a mock threat.

“What? No, wait, I mean, yes, we– ugh!” Josephine rolled her eyes in exasperation. “Listen… here’s what we’re gonna do…”

\------

"Ready?" Josephine asked as she crouched in position. She was facing Cordelia's fort, still hiding behind her own. 

"Ready!" Chris said back, a silly smile on his face.

"On three okay?" Josephine said, looking over her shoulder. "So the countdown will be like one, two, three, got it?"

"Got it!"

"Awesome!" Josephine got up onto her feet. Raising her voice, she yelled out, "Hey! You two have five seconds to surrender, or we’re gonna start destroying your fort, little by little!" Both she and Chris snickered as she waited for their response.

"Never!" come the overly dramatic reply. Josephine peeked out around the side of their fort and spotted most of Cordelia's head sticking out of her own pile of snow. She snickered, knowing full well that such a small pile of snow would be no match for the power of snowballs.

Ducking back under cover, she whispered, "Well, they had their chance! On three; one... two... three!" In one smooth motion, the two of them stood up. A split second later, they started throwing snowballs at the opposing team. Suddenly, Cordelia peeked out over the top and one snowball hit her right on the forehead. Going by the look of shock on Cordelia's face, Josephine had taken her completely by surprise.

"Luke! What happened?" Cordelia hissed in mock anger.

"Hahaha, she got you good, Cordelia!' Luke said, rolling around on his back as he lost himself in a fit of laughter.

"Very funny..." Cordelia said, smiling as a devious little idea popped into her mind. "Let's see how you would like it!" She giggled and pushed Luke out from behind the cover. It took a few seconds before he heard him getting hurt by snowballs, and only did she let him back in.

"So, how'd did it feel, Luke?" Cordelia asked with another giggle, wiping the snow from his back.

Luke just grumbled something inaudible under his breath as he got down on his knees. He started making more snowballs, forming a neat little pile at the base of their fort. Once he had a decent amount, he peeked over the top, jerking back down just before a snowball launched by Josephine would have nailed him in the face.

“Haha, you missed me!” he called out defiantly.

“Oh yeah?” Josephine yelled back as she made the biggest snowball yet. “Watch this!” she whispered to Chris. She aimed at the tree right above their enemies’ fort and launched her snowball at the branch right above Luke's head.

The snowball soared through the air and hit the branch, breaking apart on impact. Luke looked up just in time to watch a massive pile of snow fall on top of him, completely burying him underneath it. Upon hearing giggles from both his side and the enemies’, Spike pushed the snow of himself after some help from Cordelia.

After helping Luke brush the rest of the snow off of him, Cordelia waved a single hand above the top of their fort. “Hey, I’m coming out!” she called out. “Truce?”

“Truce!” Josephine said warily as everyone stood up. “What for?”

“Want to take the next, I don’t know, half hour or so to build up our forts?” Cordelia asked, stepping out from behind her fort as a show of good faith. She spread her hands to show that she wasn’t hiding any snowballs in them before placing them back against her side.

“Sure, we can do that!” Josephine stepped out from behind her pitiful pile of snow and whispered to Chris. “Hey, go find your friends and bring them here; we could use their help!” she said in a hushed tone. “Alright?”

“Alright, I’ll be back as soon as I can!” Chris yelled over his shoulder as he darted around the corner on his new scooter, leaving the other three to build up their forts for the upcoming battle.


End file.
